Sword Art Online Guardian Guild Chronicles
by Amtwriter
Summary: Danny Fenton also known as the world renown ghost powered hero Phantom is one of 1000 thousand Beta-Testers of SAO along with his close friends Sam and Tucker. Once the game is officially released to the world, the creator of the game traps everyone inside and now it is up several different guilds within the game including Phantoms own guild to get every one out.
1. Chapter 1: Let The Death Game Begin!

SAO: Guardian Guild Chronicles

Chapter 1: Let the Death Game Begin!

 **November 6** **th** **2022 22:55 PM: Amity Park, Illinois America**

 **No One's POV**

" **Today is the day as fans of VRMMORPG gather in Japan to buy a copy of the latest and most wanted VR game of the century Sword Art Online, unfortunately the game is only available to those in Japan so far due to the creator Akihiko Kayaba, wanting to start small and eventually spread out to other countries with this game if it is a success in Japan. The only exception to this rule are the Beta Testers outside of Japan that were lucky enough to test the game in its beta stage before the official release as a personal thank you from Akihiko Kayaba for helping test and perfect the game. Good luck to those who managed to get a copy though, this is Harriet Chin of Amity Park News in Tokyo Japan signing out".**

A young boy of the age of fifteen nearly sixteen with black hair and blue eyes is staring at his computer screen watching the local news report on the newest and hottest topic to take the world by storm, Sword Art Online, the world's first successfully working VRMMORPG. Just thinking about been one of the few lucky people within America to be chosen to be one of the games Beta Testers causes him to smirk, although the smirk is gone from his face when he hears a loud bang from the middle of his street causing him to rush over to the window and look out to see his parents trying to repair the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle or GAV as it was known as by its abbreviation, with his sister as usual telling them of for over charging the ectoplasmic filter in the middle of the night …again. The boy just stares at his family arguing over the repairs on the Gav causing him to laugh until, he hears a beep from his computer screen. The boy turns back around to face his computer screen when a message pops up on his screen from one of his closest friends, a young girl of the age of fifteen with black hair with purple streaks tied into a ponytail and purples eyes wearing a gothic looking outfit **. Danny are you there, cause the server for SAO is going to open soon and me and Tuck aren't diving without you mister** , reading the message caused Danny to laugh to himself before he typed his reply back **Sam, don't worry I'm here, just saw my parents blow another filter for the GAV, nothing to worry about, I wouldn't miss this for the world, anyway I am about to dive so I will meet you and Tuck in the town centre of the town of beginnings.**

 **Danny's POV**

I sigh to myself trying to calm myself down Me, Sam and Tucker had been waiting to dive into SAO since it was announced to be public play, my thoughts are interrupted as one more message pops up **Alright, Don't forget this is a chance for you to relax from your paranormal problems! :D** , when I read this message it causes me to laugh before I look at my Nerve Gear sat on my bed before I get up and put it on and lay on the bed. When I activate my Nerve Gear "Link Start" my only thought while watching all my setting been checked was a chance of normalcy at last, the only thing was that I was wrong so very wrong, my life will never be normal and I final have come to accept that, this is what makes me realise that my life, the life of a Phantom is better than no life at all and this is how it happens.

 **November 6th 2022 13:01 PM Japan Time: SAO Aincrad, Floor 1 Town of Beginnings, New Dawn Tavern**

"Well Aincrad, I said I would be back and here I am and better than ever, so you better watch out", with this been said I run out of the New Dawn Tavern causing the NPC working at the bar to yell at me and I start sprinting towards the town centre looking for Sam and Tucker. When I reach the centre, I start to look around for Sam and Tucker, noticing them standing next to the Fountain talking to a girl player about the SAO system, Sam's player was set to the average avatar height and build with pale skin, long black hair tied in a ponytail and purple eyes with the standard female beginners outfit in purple and black with the pre-set sword, while Tucker had set his avatar to the maximum height and build "No Surprise really, he always though himself as a ladies man" with dark skin, short black hair, brown eyes with the standard male beginners outfit in red and brown with the pre-set sword. I walk up to them "Techwiz, Chaos, there you are", this been said caused Tucker and Sam to turn around and look at me, my avatar was based on my real life appearance in almost every way except for a few things such as my hair which was a bit longer due to it been the closest one to my real world hair style and my outfit which was a white, red and black coloured male standard beginners outfit.

Sam responded first to me greetings, "Phantom, you made the dive on time for once", this been said caused me to blush and Tucker to burst out laughing at my expenses, while Sam smirked playfully at me, the female player that they were talking to earlier, suddenly squealed causing me to wince due to my enhanced hearing "one of the only few powers I still have in the Virtual World". I turn to look at the female player she was by the looks of her avatar a preteen, this was noticeable due to the fact that her avatar was set to the shortest height and build for the female avatar with hair that was a light brown colour tied into two ponytails, brown eyes, pale skin and a red and yellow standard female beginners outfit and pre-set sword. She final finds her words "B….bb…By any chance are you three the Doomsday Trio, Chaos, Techwiz and Phantom, winners of the first VRMMORPG DOOM: VITRUAL STRIKE", this causes me, Sam and Tucker to look at her in shock, before Tucker regained some form of dignity "Well, erm miss ….", the girl looks at Tucker in confusion before laughing "Silica" "Right Silica, how would you know about that game it was a fifteen plus". Silica then looks at us nervously because we were giving her concerned glares "Don't look at me like that I never played that game my friend, who likes to travel a lot claimed that her cousin was a player in that game, named Phantom and his team consisted of himself, a female called Chaos and another male called Techwiz and they were the champs earning them the title the Doomsday Trio".

Sam then looks at me in shock "Phantom you don't think that Silica is talking about Da….." but before Sam could finish a familiar face charges past us causing us to be pushed into the fountain. Me, Sam and Tucker pulled ourselves out of the fountain spiting water looking around for Silica only to discover that she had vanished, but we could still see the avatar that pushed us into the fountain running into a nearby ally. Sam looks at me with a fierce look of anger "Phantom was that who I think it was?", I then sigh and nod in her direction before Sam starts shouting at the top of her lungs and charging after the players avatar "Get back here Kirito, I'm going to kill you, slowly and very painfully". Tucker then laughs in the direction Sam ran off "He's so going to get it this time, Phantom", I look at Tucker with serious expression "You do realise that she is serious this time?", you could instantly see Tucker's expression shift from one of mirth to panic before jumping in the air and charging of after Sam, shouting his head off and causing several other players to look at us, "CHAOS COME BACK HERE!, DON'T DO SOMETHING YOUR'LL REGRET!". I then sigh before stating "Friends can't live with them, can't live without them, WAIT UP", before sprinting off in the direction the others and had ran in.

 **No Ones POV**

 **SAO Aincrad Floor 1 Outskirts of the Town of Beginnings**

Klein and Kirito were slaying the wild boar mobs using the beginner's sword skills attempting to level up before Kirito was tackled by a black and purple blur. Causing Klein to stop attack anymore wild boars and Kirito's HP Bar to decrease by a small amount before it start to drop more rapidly due to blur been Chaos punching Kirito to a plumb. "YOU MORONIC IDIOT KIRITO, YOU HAD TO PUSH ME AND THE OTHERS INTO THE FOUNTAIN WITH YOUR CARELESS RUNNING THROUGH TOWN!" each word of this sentence was accompanied by Chaos punching Kirito. Klein just looked at Kirito and Chaos in confusion "Dude who is this crazy but hot chick", fortunately due to Chaos's rage she didn't hear Klein's comment and was still punching Kirito but was broken out of her rage by a familiar sound "CHAOS, STOP IF YOU KEEP THIS UP YOUR'LL BECOME THE FIRST PKER OF SAO!". This been said causes Chaos to blink and then leap of Kirito and then help him up with a sheepish expression on her face, "Sorry Kirito I didn't mean to actually try to kill your avatar", Kirito just looks at Chaos with a concerned but humoured expression "Hi Chaos nice to see you too", but before the conversation could continue Phantom appeared with Techwiz who was a mile or two away crawling in attempt to reach them.

"Phantom, why did you let my rage get the best of me again", causing Phantom to blush but in what Chaos couldn't tell and his mumbling didn't help either although this was interrupted by Techwiz making an over dramatic appearance with him breathing heavily. "N….Never…D….Do…..Th….That….AGAIN!", Phantom just sighed at Techwiz "Dude, SAO Rule Three: Our natural capabilities are enhanced in the VR world, so I don't know why you panting like you do back home". This been said causes Techwiz to scowl in Phantom's direction while Kirito and Chaos to burst out in laughter at Techwiz, although this was interrupted by Klein "Wait a minute are you telling me that all four of you are Beta Testers". The four other players exchange looks before slowly nodding in Klein's direction before Phantom stepped forward and started pointing at himself and the other Beta Testers, "I'm Phantom, that's Chaos and Techwiz and I can see you have met Kirito". Klein looks at the four players for a while before looking at Phantom directly in the eyes "Phantom, were have I heard that name before", causing Phantom to start sweating proverbial bullets "Erm…I don't know, I chose my name because no one apart for my family and two closest friends ever seem to notice me, so I'm like a ghost get it". Klein then starts to look at Phantom with confused expression before smirking "Well, alright then" causing Phantom to sigh in relief. Kirito then approaches Phantom "Hey Ghost Boy" causing Phantom to glare at Kirito and the others to burst out in laughter, before Kirito resumed "You owe me a duel" and sent Phantom a duel request causing Phantom to smirk before hitting the confirm button "Well a deal is a deal". Kirito and Phantom then stepped into a clear field free from monster mobs at least a twenty feet away from the others before removing their blades and getting into their preferred fighting stance. Kirito then looks at Phantom, "Remember first to get yellow on their opponents HP bar wins", causing Phantom to nod in Kirito's direction and then both of the duelling players start waiting for the alarm to announce they can start. While the clock was counting down, Klein looks in Chaos's and Techwiz's direction "Hey Guys, why are they talking about owing each other a duel", this causes Techwiz to smirk and Chaos to look in Phantom's direction with a blush trying not to look at Klein and Techwiz, while Phantom also snuck a glance at Chaos causing him to blush.

Techwiz looks at Klein "You see Klein when the game first came out for the Beta Test me, Phantom and Chaos dived in immediately and well in one of our first quests before we attempted to take on the Floor 1 Boss, we had to rescue a young girl from a horde of monsters of all shapes and sizes, although they were low level. And well we met Kirito during this quest when Chaos and Kirito accidently attacked each other because they mistook each other for monsters. Phantom prevented this by intercepting the attacks with his blade and utilized the motion created by the three blades to eliminate the remaining monsters. Unfortunately Kirito claimed it was his win not Phantom's but Phantom managed to talk Kirito into a duel but we never got around to it because we got so used working together, we sort of… well forgot". Techwiz then gives a sheepish smile to Klein before Klein blinks and then smirks back at him before leaning in and whispering "So I'm guessing the reason why they both blushed just then, is due to the fact that they have feelings for each other, therefore they can't bring themselves to admit that they do". Techwiz then looks at Klein before bursting out in laughter causing Chaos to turn around and glare at the two male players behind her, causing them to turn white in fright before Chaos turned around to watch the duel, giving Techwiz a moment to lean in and whisper to Klein "So you noticed the lovebirds too then, I suppose it isn't hard to notice in the VR World either" causing Klein to burst in laughter again.

Although any more conversation between the players were interrupted by the duels starting alarm causing Kirito to charge towards Phantom "AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" with his blade stationed behind him before the sword skill set in allowing him to charge forward with a thrusting charge, only to be blocked by Phantom using a sword skill to parry the blow above their heads causing Kirito to let out a gasp before he head-butts Kirito, receiving a "Oooohhh" from the players on the side lines and a "Aaaarrrggghh" from Kirito and his HP to drop a few segments. Kirito then responds with by twirling his blade around his body in a circular motion fuelled by a Sword Skill causing Phantom again to block with a upper cut Sword Skill to block Kirito's attack only to discovered it was a feign allowing Kirito to retaliate with a slice to the face, only to barley catch Phantom's face due to his fast reflexes causing his health to drop a few segments as well. Kirito growing tired with Phantom's constant ability to avoid serious damage to his HP, starts to chain multiple Sword Skills together in quick succession attempting to chip away at Phantom's HP, only to be block with retaliation at every blow by Phantom in a similar way to his own. From the other players point of view they could tell you that all they could see was two blurs of black and white constantly clashing. Suddenly both of the blurs skidded apart to reveal Phantom and Kirito with several virtual wounds covering them but before they could resume to the alarm went off to state the duel was over, causing all the players to look up to see that the duel was a tie.

Klein jaw drop "A tie, I thought ties weren't possible in SAO duels", Chaos turns around to Klein "Actually they are, but they are very hard to achieve in SAO, the good news is that duels are recorded by the main system and can be played back to see how the duel was won, lost or drawn, so let's find out". Chaos then opened up her menu while the others surrounded her while she loaded the footage from the duel, after watching the duel several more times Chaos found what they were looking for "Guys I have found where you both tied", causing both the Kirito and Phantom to learn in closer, only for Phantom to put is chin on Chaos's shoulder causing them both to blush and look at each other before resuming what they were doing. The video was currently set near the end of the duel but was slowed down to see the details, when played it showed at one moment both Phantom and Kirito performed a spinning Sword Skill in attempt to block each other, only to miss each other's blades and catch each other instead causing their health to drop to yellow at the same time officially ending the duel. Techwiz's and Klein's response to the end of duel was almost immediate and at the same time "Dudes that was awesome", while Chaos's response was that of a "I knew you could do it Phantom" and a "Well done" to Kirito causing both Techwiz and Klein to glance at each other with knowing looks and a blush from Phantom.

 **SAO Aincrad Floor 1 Outskirts of the Town of Beginnings 17:25 AST (Aincrad Standard Time)**

After helping train Klein train and adjust to SAO's gaming system, the group was walking along the main road back to the Town of Beginnings, Kirito, Klein, Phantom, Chaos and Techwiz eventually stopped and sat down on the grass nearby on a cliff edge to admire Aincrad's sunset. The admiring of the sunset was eventually interrupted by Kirito "You ready to move on?", this been said causes Klein to jump up from where he was sitting "Yeah, man. Let's keep going.", he then starts to walk away while the other get up from the grass before pausing "When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game, bros. Whoever made it is a genius. The things amazing. Makes me glad I was born when I was, you know?". Kirito then looks at Klein with a confused look "It's not that big a deal", Klein then looks back at Kirito with a annoyed look but before he could retaliate Chaos interrupted "You think that is bad Kirito, you should have seen Phantom's and Techwiz's faces when they first dived" causing the two let out annoyed "HEY!" causing Klein to relax a bit before he resumed his conversation with Kirito "Cut me some slack, it my first full dive!". Kirito then had a look of genuine curiosity "You've never used the Nerve Gear before today, huh? This is your first time ever?. Causing Klein to smile and look up into the sky "Uh-huh. As soon as I got the money together, I rushed out and bought all the hardware to play SAO. Stood in line and scored one of the ten thousand hard copies. Guess you could say I was pretty lucky. Although, you lot", pausing and then pointing at the others, "Were ten times as lucky getting to Beta-Test it, especially those from outside of the country, because they also got a free copy of the game when it was released".

Techwiz losing all his restraint there and then, couldn't resist showing off as usual "Well me, Chaos and Phantom are three of the American Beta-Testers", This been said causes both Phantom and Chaos to leap on top of Techwiz and attempt to cover his mouth with their hands and was accompanied with a shout of "TECHWIZ!" and a lot of arguing afterwards. Kirito and Klein just resumed their conversation while the argument resumed nearby "Dude you and the others over there, are four of the one thousand people that got the chance to test it". Kirito looks thoughtful over what Klein just said "Yeah, I guess us four were lucky, especially those three since they are international Beta-Testers" and pointed at the three arguing players. Klein then looked at the group then back at Kirito before resuming their conversation "Hey, mind if I ask how far you got into the Beta?, Kirito then looks up into the sky thoughtfully "Two months and I couldn't get further then floor eight. But now, I think I can get there within a month easy. The others often teamed up and traveled together they got to the six flour but didn't proceed because they came across a unique quest in the Beta but never finished due to the Beta been shut down." Klein just smirked at Kirito's response "Sounds to me like you're really into this!", this makes a smile appear on Kirito's face "Yeah, you could say that. During the Beta-Test, SAO was the only thing on my mind, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. And even though it's a virtual world, I feel more alive in here than I ever did in the real one. Anyway, you want to go do some more hunting?".

Klein gets a look of excitement on his face "You know it! But shouldn't we first break up their argument and the thing is I'm really hungry. I have to log out." Kirito looks at Klein with a look of amusement "Yeah, we really should break up the argument but it is funny to watch and they do it a lot. As to food problem, too bad the food you eat here only satisfies you hunger virtually". This causes Klein to put on a heroic pose "Yeah, for reals! That's why I ordered pizza for 5:30!". Seeing Klein do the pose caused Kirito to sweat drop and look at him with respect "Wow your prepared", Klein just laughed "You Know it! Besides, the game can wait until I get my Pizza on" "I guess". Klein looks at Kirito with a sad look due to his response "Hey, I was going to go meet up with some people I know from another game. I don't know what you're up to after this, so, I, uh, you know, if you want, you can friend them and hang with us. No, it's cool if you don't want to, no pressure. I can always introduce them another time or something". Kirito then looks at Klein with a saddened expression "Yeah, sorry. Thank, anyway", Klein looks at Kirito with a surprised expression "No way! I should be doing all the thanking! Hey, one of these days, I promise I will pay you and the others back for all your help! Virtually that is!", Kirito just sighs "Yeah, right". Klein then looks at Kirito with a happy expression before opening up his menu to begin the log out process, "Thanks for everything, man, really. Guess I'll see you around, then". Kirito then looks at Klein with a look of sincerity "If there's anything else you want to know, message me", Klein just smiles back at Kirito "Oh, sweet! I'll do that. Huh? …. Where did the log out button go?".

This been said causes Phantoms head to appear out of top of the argument turned doggy pile, "Wait, did you say the log out button isn't there?" before climbing out and running over to Kirito and Klein with Chaos and Techwiz in pursuit. Kirito looks over to Klein before opening his own menu to start the log out process "It should be there", Klein shakes his head in response "Nope, it's not here", Kirito then looks at his menu in concern "It should be at the bottom of the main menu. Huh?", Phantom looks up to Chaos and Techwiz to see they had similar confused expressions on their faces as Kirito but his thoughts were interrupted by Kirito and Klein's argument about the log out system and bugs that might have occurred on the first day out of Beta. "Seriously? SO NOW WE GOT TO WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE GETS AROUND TO FIXING THE BUG?!" causing Phantom, Chaos and Techwiz to sweat drop, before Kirito tries to calm down Klein "That or someone in the real world comes along and takes the Nerve Gear off us. That's it" causing Klein to panic even more "I LIVE ALONE. What about you lot?". Kirito just sighs again "I've got a mom and a sister. And I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner and come looking for me", Phantom responded next "I've got parents and a sister but they hardly ever seem to stop working, so for me it could take a while", Chaos looked around annoyed "Parents and a Grandma, but my parents are so annoying that I'm sure I will be pulled out of the game soon" and finally Techwiz " Just parents but I'm known as a techno geek so they won't visit me for a while, so I might be here a while as well".

Klein suddenly leaps at Phantom and Kirito with a crazy look on his face "You've got sisters?, how old are they?, what are they like?" but before Kirito could respond Phantom punched Klein in the stomach sending him across the field before turning to Chaos and Techwiz with a serious expression "Techwiz can you find out what is happening with the main system?", Techwiz just shook his head "Sorry Dude, the main system has locked me out". Phantom just sighed before a blue light engulfed them.

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

When the blue light passed I realised that I had been forced teleported, so I look around frantically for Sam and Tucker, as well as Kirito and Klein to discover they are still next to me and we had been teleported into the centre of the Town of Beginnings near the water Fountain. I could hear various cries of panic such as "What's going on? And "What happened?" etc, before noticing a lot of emergency notices appear such as warnings around the centre trapping us in. Then blood started to pour out between the crack falling into a ball before forming into what appeared to be the game master, my thoughts are interrupted by the figure suddenly speaking "Attention, players. I welcome you to my world", when this was stated various players questioned who was this mystery player "My name is Akihikio Kayaba. And of this moment, I am in control of this world". When I heard the way he worded and said that I felt something was about to go wrong, Sam calls it my Phantom sense, He sounded too much like Vlad. My thoughts are interrupted by Kayaba "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus, the log out button. Let me assure you that, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this not a defect. This is how "Sword Art Online" was designed to be". This causes several players to cry out at Kayaba in outrage, Tucker and Klein included.

Kayaba let the players let out their opinions before resuming "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside world will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will discharge a microwave signal into a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life". Klein starts talking to Kirito about how the Nerve Gear works and if it was possible for what Kayaba said to actual happen if it was messed around with, Kayaba again waited for the players to release their anger at him including several profanities before he resumed. "Despite my warning, the families and friends of the some of the players have attempted removing the Nerve Gear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." I heard Kirito mention the two hundred and thirteen dead players and Klein mumbling something about not believing it and each time a new piece of information was revealed by Kayaba I felt my anger building up at him. Kayaba then opens up links that appear to have the local news for all areas that the players of SAO originated from including Amity and what I saw broke my heart their weeping over a body of comatose boy was my family in a hospital room and then I saw another two articles which made me panic even more in big bold letters **Local Children in Coma** and **World Famous Hero Phantom Vanishes.** What worried me more than anything was that I was the one and only effective defence against ghost attacks without me Amity Park …. No the World would fall to the ghosts with world domination ambitions, the only thing I could think of in this situation was …..this is bad and out of my eye I could have sworn I could have saw several players including Kirito and Klein looking at me like they had read the article.

My train of though is interrupted again when Kayaba continues "As you can see, international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a Nerve Gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It is important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system…. Forever. And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain". When this was said by Kayaba I felt a hand grasp my own, causing me to look down at my hand to see Sam had grasped my own in fear of dying like that, all I could was give her hand a comforting squeeze which she managed to return. "There is only one way for a player to escape now – you must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor One Hundred, and you will clear the game". Several of the players were still confused because they were still questioning what Kayaba meant and Klein wasn't to amused in fact he and tucker looked like they are about to have a panic attack "We can't clear all One Hundred floors….. That's Impossible….. Even the Beta Testers never made it that far". I looked around and several of the players that were near Klein started to panic after hearing this but before they could go into a full blown panic Kayaba spoke again "Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look".

I opened up my item storage to find a mirror when it loaded in the palm of my hand, I inspect the mirror more closely to see a perfect image of my real life self and for a second I could have sworn I saw my ghost half but before I could say anything I see a bright flash and hear a lot of terrified screams. When I open up my eyes and look I see Sam and Tucker in their real world forms in their avatars clothes "Sam…Tucker is that you?, Sam turns and looks at me before whispering my name and hugging me with Tucker crying out to the world "No my looks, more gorgeous VR looks", surprisingly causing several players to laugh. Kayaba says one more thing before removing himself from the public's eye "As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of SAO. Players, I wish you the best of luck.", then suddenly all the players start to panic causing me, Tucker and Sam to be separated from Klein and Kirito in the huge crowds of people. I pull Tucker and Sam towards the New Dawn Tavern to try and gather ourselves before heading of before my hearing picks up a cracking sound and a shriek coming from a nearby ally causing me to snap out of my shocked state. I suddenly feel my ghost half's obsession kick in and I sprint in that direction to see several children players been pushed into the side of the ally with such force causing the balcony above supports to start to break and fall toward the children with several wooden crates behind that. So I do the one thing that comes to my mind I grab my sword, prepare a sword skill and leap into the air shouting orders at Sam and Tucker "Chaos, Techwiz get the children out of harm's way, no one gets hurt on my watch" this been said causes Sam and Tucker to snap out of it and rescue the kids from harm's way.

My jump carries me into the path of the falling debris before they are destroyed by using sword skills and land on the ground sheathing my weapon before I am grabbed by several players "Thank you for saving our children, we thought we had lost them in the confusion, who are you?", I look at very one around me, all of them had looks of admiration on them before I responded with the most cryptic thing I could say "I nothing but a wondering soul protecting those in need" before grabbing Sam and Tucker and running of in the direction of the New Dawn Tavern. I won't die here, I refuse to, I have to protect those outside and inside this world that is why I am still alive, that is why I will do what I can to protect those who are trapped within this world, I will not let a single soul die within my sight that is my promise, no that is my job now to allow those in here to see the outside world again, those who stand in my way won't stand a ghost of a chance.

 **NEXT TIME ON SWORD ART ONLINE**

 **PARANORMAL PARTICIPATION**


	2. Chapter 2: Paranormal Participation!

SAO: Guardian Guild Chronicles

Chapter 2: Paranormal Participation!

 **December 3** **rd** **2022 2:00 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Outskirts of the Town of Tolbana**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

It's been almost a month since me and the other players were trapped in SAO, unfortunately only eight thousands players are left and each of those players who died, has made the weight of the task much heavier. Out of the two thousand players that have perished by Kayaba's Death Game, three hundred of those player deaths were Beta Testers and no one has managed located the first boss room yet, leading to several incidents between players arguing about Beta Testers and their loyalties. The good news is that I managed to snap Tucker and Sam out of their shock after we got back to the New Dawn Tavern and set out to help the other players advance in the game. The bad news is because of what me, Sam and Tucker did during the official start of SAO, as well as us stopping several arguments between players since then, has caused players to start hunting down the heroic wondering soul and his close allies to get help from them during quests or worse to try and eliminate them, so no competition remains.

My thoughts were interrupted by a startling shout "PHANTOM, PHANTOM ARE YOU THERE?!" causing me to trip and land on my face causing my HP bar to drop by a small segment and a burst of laughter from behind me. I release a sigh before getting up with the help from a purple gloved hand "Thanks Sam" looking at her with a smile causing her to look away blushing or what looked like a blushing face ….it might have been a trick of the light. My thoughts were again interrupted when the same gloved hand collides into my stomach causing more of my health to drop and more laughter from Tucker before Sam released a sigh "Dan…I mean Phantom, we can't use our real world names any more not as long as we are trapped within this Death Game, so please start calling us by our Avatar names from now on, ok". I look at Sa…..I mean Chaos with a downcast expression before turning around trying to reel in my emotions, this world needs Phantom more than Fenton, it's just a shame I can't access my powers fully in here. The only powers I can access in SAO are my enhanced senses and reflexes, which are a double edge sword in my opinion, they help me survive but makes taking the pain from the wounds in this world a lot more painful. I can hear shuffling behind me indicating that Chaos and Techwiz are worried about my behaviour, time to channel my inner Phantom, I think to myself. "Come on Chaos and Techwiz, we nearly to Tolbana and once we have completed the quest, we can then rent a room at the local Tavern or the Farmer's house and then resupply as well as upgrade our equipment".

By the time we enter the town various players were already based here, most likely to train and raise their levels to help them survive, the main reason for us been here was that a quest had brought us here, we had to deliver a rare flower ironically called the Spirit Sprite to the local Blacksmith because he need it to finish his latest order of blades. Chaos stops next to me and taps my shoulder "Phantom the Blacksmith is to the south of Tolbana right near the south exit", I give Chaos a thankful smile and nod before we head towards the Blacksmiths. Once we had had handed over the Spirit Sprite to the NPC Blacksmith, the quest official ends with him handing me a reward that wasn't in the Beta, a Katana made out of Spirit Steel called The Requiem of The Lost Souls and offered us a temporary reduced rate on any of his wares. Chaos immediately went looking in the weapons section to get rid of her standard blade since no weapons so far had suited her fighting style and Techwiz went into the armour section with me since he carried a War Hammer called Slam Smasher, which he obtained from a traveling merchant NPC, he had rescued from a horde of monsters without realising it was a quest. Slam Smasher was a long War Hammer that was made out of Strength Steel with a circular head with red highlights and a bandaged handle. The reason for me checking out the armour section is that my own armour's durability was starting to wear out meaning either two things one I would be running around this world in my underwear which isn't a pleasant thought or I could be deleted for not having any armour for protection while been in combat another not pleasant thought, so armour seems appealing right about now.

Once I enter the room I lose track of Techwiz, him shouting something about needing to check something out further inward, I spend a good half an hour looking around the armour section looking at the armour but nothing seems to appeal or jump out to me until I come across a covered stall. When I touch the cover a NPC appears "Ah I see you young man have a fine choice in light combat armour for your questing, this beautiful outfit is called the Lost Soul outfit and is well suited for any situation providing comfort, protection and making you look like a well-seasoned warrior". For some reason the armour seem to draw me closer, so before I asked how much it is I had to get a look at this armour "Excuse me, may I have a look at the Lost Soul Armour Set please", the NPC then smiles and nods at me before removing the cover. What was under the cover surprised me, the armour consisted of black boots with white strips going across various places on them and was covered in steel on the front. The gloves were black and fingerless with white palms and steel gauntlets on the base of the gloves. The trousers were black and loose with a white strip down on the side of each leg as well as steel knee pads. The Jacket was a long black trench coat that had white and steel armour patches in various places such as the shoulders and elbows. The final touch to the armour was a black and white scarf that can be used to cover my mouth and nose. I don't know how or why but this armour seemed to be the one for me, I give it one more look over before turning back to the NPC "Can it be upgraded and if so how much is the entire set?", The NPC seemed to burst out in laughter before leaning in to talk to me "Well to be totally honest no one has shown any interest in this armour yet, you're the first and it is upgradable once the right materials are gathered and it doesn't cost anything, you only need to answer a riddle".

I look at the NPC in confusion "A riddle?" causing the NPC to laugh again "Yep" with him emphasising his p, I then take one more look at the armour before turning back to the NPC with a determined expression on my face "Well can I have the riddle please?". The NPC just looks at me with a smile before nodding "What wanders the earth, Never dead or alive but still seems to live both with a lie, a protector of those of birth and good-bye?". This riddle seemed familiar like I had heard it before but I couldn't remember where, so I ran the riddle through my head several times, the line Dead and Alive seems to strike me the most ….wait a minute Dead or Alive and protector "A Phantom?". When I said this the NPC seemed to have a shocked expression before bowing to me and then vanishing in thin air, his voice still seemed to float in the air though "Well done, young Phantom keep doing what you and friends have been doing and remember everything is as it should be". I then pausing, when the NPC's voice stated this before smiling and pressing the accept icon on my menu to claim and equip my Lost Soul Armour and my Spirt Katana, I take a look at myself in my new armour in a nearby mirror, I shouldn't have been surprised really but yet again this armour really seemed to suit me. I walk out into the main room only to hear a gasp and see Chaos and Techwiz already their waiting for me.

 **Sam/Chaos's POV**

When I walked into the weapons section of the store, I saw the weapon that I knew was for me, sitting there right in front of me was beautiful Battle Axe sitting on a large podium. I walk up to the podium and select the Battle Axe causing the stats and name of the weapon to pop up, the name of the Battle Axe read Dusk's Edge, It was weird I thought that I had a feeling that Dusk's Edge was made for me in mind. Dusk's Edge actual blade looked like it was made in the Viking era having a Norse based design with a long wooden handle that was wrapped around in various fabrics mainly purple in colour. The blade was made out of old looking steel like metal and offered a decent amount of stats. I then go to purchase the weapon only to realise that no NPC has come by offering me any service, which was strange all though this soon change when the NPC announced their presence behind him "Excuse me, miss" causing me to let out a startled yelp and fall over. I turn around after getting up to see the NPC, who is a young woman about my age with blonde hair, I then wait for her to continue only to remember that NPC's only respond to certain phrases "Yes hello, I was wondering if you could tell me how much Dusk's Edge is".

This causes the NPC to smile "Yes this Dusk's Edge Battle Axe costs 15,000 Cor", this been said causes me to lose my neutral expression on my face, the one I use for dealing with NPC's and change to a sad one due to the fact that I only had 12,000 Cor. Most of my parties Cor had been used to help other players survive this Death Game, my train of thought was interrupted by the NPC "Don't worry miss because, you helped my father I will offer this short time deal of 10,500 Cor". I look at the NPC in shock she had offered me a 30% reduction from the original price, I smile before hitting the accept button to purchase and equip my new weapon before I let out startled gasp. When I had equipped my new weapon, armour had also equipped itself to me covering my arms and legs in steel armour that was painted amethyst purple and midnight black steel combat boots with a loose black shirt and jeans. I was broken out of my startled state, when the NPC resumed speaking "I forgot to mention that this armour is also included with Dusk's Edge called Dusk's Persistence", I give the NPC a small smile and a thank you before making my way back to the entrance of the shop. Only to be stopped by what the NPC said next "You know we only get one chance in life and when we miss that chance we will regret it, so tell him you love him before it is too late", I let out of shaking gasp before running out of the room.

I collide into Techwiz when I leave the room causing us to roll across the room before helping each other up, I get a good look at Techwiz while I'm getting up. He is wearing a medieval knight styled armour that is quite bulky with red markings on various places and has brown leather goggles with green coloured glass over his eyes most likely to act as his glasses in this world, even though he doesn't need them. His new armoured appearance seems to suit him and his War Hammer Slam Smasher really well, I smirk in his direction deciding to joke about his appearance "Techwiz, what in Aincrad are you wearing?". He looks at me like I have lost it "Ha what I am I wearing, the question should be what are you wearing?", causing me to scowl in his direction and him to cower behind a nearby stall with a startled "I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!". I then sigh before continuing "Listen Techwiz, I'm sorry alright and to be total honest that look really suits you", Techwiz then peeks his head out from behind the nearby stall "Really?", I then smile in his direction "Really". Techwiz then comes out of hiding and starts moving around me inspecting my armour "I could say the same for you, Chaos, the armour suit both your personality and style of combat, it also offers good stats for this floor weirdly enough" causing me to smirk in his direction "Has someone been working on their Appraiser and Blacksmith Skills without telling me and Phantom", making Techwiz blush and mumbled sorry but before we could continue Phantom entered the room from the armour section causing me gasp and blush.

Phantom's outfit like mine and Techwiz's it seemed to be tailored to our personalities perfectly, in fact Phantom's seemed to be dedicated to both of his forms putting the best of both worlds into one. The only thing this armour didn't have was his infamous symbol, but I might be able to fix that later on if he lets me, his new appearance looked so mysterious which is why I blushed, it seemed to draw me in especially the scarf wrapped around the bottom of his face. His new blade The Requiem of The Lost Soul sat nicely on his back. Techwiz was the first to respond to Phantom's appearance, while I looked away trying to calm my blush down "Dude, were did you score the sweet armour?" , Phantom looks at Techwiz with an amused expression "By answering a riddle from an old friend" causing me and Techwiz to look at him with a confused expression. This causes Phantom to face palm himself mumbling about needing to be so cryptic around friends before looking at both me and Techwiz directly "All is as it should be". I myself after Phantom said that felt like face palming myself while Techwiz started laughing his head off and forcing me to kick him in the shin to make him stop and getting a sharp yelp from him. We then leave the blacksmiths saying our thanks to the NPC before colliding into a cloaked figure outside the front entrance causing a huge dog pile outside of Blacksmiths and several passing by players to burst out in laughter.

 **No Ones POV**

An armoured hand manages to break free from the dog pile before pulling a figure out the pile, revealing Techwiz who glared at the other players causing them to run off before stretching his back causing it to click "That wasn't fun at all". The only response Techwiz got from the rest of the dog pile was a loud groan before he and the cloaked figure helps Phantom and Chaos up from the ground. The cloaked figure then ducks from a fist that came from Chaos in another annoyance fuelled rage before Phantom grabs her fist causing her to blush before shaking her head and then continue her rage in another way against the figure. She chose the most effect way of drawing the attention of others and preventing damage to the figure "WHAT THE HELL!", causing the cloaked figure to pale at the sight of Chaos "S…sorry". The argument between the two players was interrupted by Phantom again but this time he put his hand on Chaos's shoulder to calm her down again causing her to blush again before he turned to the figure "I'm sorry about my friends she gets annoyed with others quite easily, if they do something that can sometimes end in her embarrassment by accident" getting an embarrassed "HEY!" and a snicker from behind him. The figure sighs in response "No it's my fault for running into the Blacksmiths the way I did, I should have realised that other players might have been leaving the building, thank you for calming your friend down and not lashing out at me for my mistake". Phantom just smiles at the figure "It's alright incidents like that happen all the time, especially to people like…" but was cut off from continuing by the figure's stomach growling causing them to look away from Phantom in embarrassment and Phantom to chuckle. "How about this as an apology from us, because we collided into you how about we treat you to lunch", Phantom looked at the rest of his party to see them nodding in agreement and then turned to the figure to see them looking down at the ground. "If that isn't too much", Phantom just smirks at the figure "Not at all in fact I know a tavern in town that serves an excellent lunch, so follow me".

 **December 3rd 2022 2:45 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Tolbana Tavern**

Phantom and his party along with the cloaked figure enter the Tolbana Tavern, causing several players to eye them cautiously before resuming their conversations and meals. Phantom leads the group to a table in the far corner of the tavern away from the rest of the players. Phantom, Chaos and Techwiz sit down at the table with Phantom taking his mask off but the clocked figure pauses unsure what to do "Don't worry we don't bite, sit down, take your cloak off, order a meal" Phantom indicated last chair while stating this. The figure then sighs before removing their cloak revealing them to be a female in her mid-teens like them with blond/light brown hair and brown eyes and a white shirt with a red jack and brown trousers. Phantom gives the girl an amused smirk "That's much better" causing Chaos and Techwiz to laugh and the girl to smile sheepishly before sticking her hand out in greeting to Phantom "My name is Asuna". Phantom then takes Asuna's hand and gives it a firm shake before indicating to himself, Chaos and Techwiz, "I'm Phantom, that's Chaos and goggles over there is Techwiz", this been said earn Phantom another "HEY!" causing Phantom, Chaos and Asuna to laugh. Suddenly Asuna stops laughing and then looks at Phantom curiously "Phantom…. Wait a minute I've heard that name before", causing the other three to cringe in her direction, before see leans in closer to them "Are you THE PHANTOM?". Phantom then looks at Asuna with a nervous expression "What do you mean by THE PHANTOM?", causing Asuna to smirk "I meaning… the heroic wandering soul that helps players with his two unknown allies". This been said causes Phantom to release a built up sigh along with Chaos and Techwiz "All right you got me I'm that Phantom", Asuna suddenly grabs Phantom's hand and shakes it again more roughly leading to all of Phantom's body to shake "It's an honour to meet you", Phantom then blushes while Chaos and Techwiz laugh at his expense.

"You know Asuna, I wasn't helping others for attention I was doing what was right, I feel like it is my responsibility to help all the remaining players that are trapped in the game to get out alive and even if I only help a few players to get a bit further into the game that's good enough for me", Asuna looks at phantom with a smile. Before whispering something "Spoken like the true Phantom", phantom looks at her confused "Sorry did you say something? Asuna". Asuna looks around shocked "Nn….no not at all", before tucking into her meal that was just delivered with the others, suddenly a large bang is heard when a players of twelve years old by the looks of it barges into the tavern causing everything to stop within it. The boy was wearing a blue jumper with brown trousers and was trying to say something but was too tired to say it at the moment. Phantom moves his chair and approaches the young boy before kneeling down at the boys height and putting his hand gently on his shoulder causing the boys head to shoot up and look Phantom in the eyes "Hey, Kid take deep breaths and once you have gather yourself tell us what you want to tell us". The kid responded to this by a hurried nod and deep breaths "A player called Diavel is calling a Floor Boss Strategy Meeting at 16:30 PM at the Tolbana Amphitheatre ", causing several players heads to shoot up in surprise before everyone shot up and left the tavern to get ready for the meeting. Phantom looks at the small boy with a prideful smile before ruffling the child's hair causing the child to laugh and then opening up his menu and depositing Cor into the boys hand "Thank you for your help, young one, you should be proud for what you have achieved, here take 100 Cor". Phantom then walks towards the door with Chaos and Techwiz in pursuit before stopping when the young boy spoke up "My names Might, Phantom and thank you". Phantom turned around in shock to face the boy "It's alright you deserved the Cor", Might then shakes his head in a no motion furiously "Not for the Cor but for saving me in the Town of Beginnings when the Death Game started and for allowing me to meet my Hero". Phantom then looks at Might in the eyes before smiling kindly "Might, I'm no Hero just a wandering Phantom in Aincrad helping those in need, there is no need to thank me" before leaving the Tavern with his party. If Phantom had stayed around a bit longer here might have heard what Might's reply was "But you are a hero Phantom, not just to me but to others both in Aincrad and in the real world, you may not want the attention but I know as long as there are people like you, we will all make it back into the real world and even then you will still protect us even if we don't want it".

 **December 3rd 2022 4:30 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Inside Tolbana Amphitheatre**

Phantom, Chaos and Techwiz sat right on the back of the Amphitheatre hidden in the shadows from the sight of the other players due to their status as players. Chaos looked around nervously, while Techwiz used a special Blacksmith stone he purchased earlier on to sharpen the edges of Slam Smasher and Phantom had his mask on while looking at the stage waiting for Diavel to appear.

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

As I looked around I couldn't help but hope someone had found something of interest that could help us advance to the next floor and help reduce the time with have to spend in this death game. I notice out of my eye Kirito sitting in the middle of the back of the seating area and ironically enough Asuna was a few feet away wearing her cloak again, both doing the same thing as me look around the area, either looking for people they knew or people who might be handy or put us at risk. As I look around one more time most of the players are talking about their experience in the Death Game so far, some saying they wish it could end others saying the exact opposite causing me to shake my head and others saying they hope the boss has been located. My thoughts are interrupted by a player who wore brown armour and trousers with a blue jumper, he had blue hair and eyes with a pale complexion walking on the stage, who I presumed was Diavel but there was something that put me off him. He had a smile on his face as he began the meeting "Okay, people! Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diavel, and in this game, the job I rolled is a knight!" this caused several people to burst out into laughter, Techwiz included but me and Chaos narrowed our eyes in his direction. Although a few other people weren't as amused I assume they were some of the serious players "Dude, there's no job system in this game!", when this was said Diavel turned serious, catching everyone's attention. "You guys want to hears this or not? Right, anyway here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today". Suddenly everyone leaned in closer to hear what Diavel had to say "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor Two. The next step is we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, that it is our duty as the most capable players here! Do you agree or not!", this caused several of the players to cheer in agreement and me to shake my own head in disbelief that they were forgetting this was matter of life and death not a competition to see who was the best.

Diavel resumes after the cheering calms down "Okay, glad to hear your all with me on this, now let's figure out how were going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties". This caused various results involving players to look for partners and I could of swore I saw Kirito and Asuna team up, Me, Chaos and Techwiz didn't need to team up we were already in a party. Diavel resumed his meeting "All right. Looks like everyone is teamed up. Now then….." but before he could continue a player who had ginger spiked hair with a ginger goatee and brown eyes, as well as wearing a brown version of the standard male starters outfit interrupted. The interrupter leapt out of the seating area onto the stage "Hey hold up a sec! My names Kibaou, go that? Before we take on the boss, I want to get something of my chest! We all know about the two thousand people who died so far, yeah? Well, some of you should apologies to them right now!". I feel my anger start to rise causing me to grasp the edge of my seat and forcing it to make a creaking sound, catching Chaos's and Techwiz's attention. Diavel then tries to get Kibaou's interruption over with "Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who were Ex-Beta Testers, right?", Kibaou gives a nod in Diavel's direction "Of course I mean them! The day this stupid game started, the Beta guys got up and vanished, right? They ditched us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we were nothing". Each one of these statements was getting me angrier and angrier "Hell, I bet there are some of them here! Come on out, Beta-Testers! We should make them apologize to us and we should make them give up all their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why should we?!".

That was it I was about to blow my top and I got up in an attempt to have a go at him but before I could Chaos and Techwiz grabbed me and pulled me down, allowing another player to stand up near Kirito that looked familiar. The player was dark skinned with brown eyes and was wearing with the standard male beginners outfit "Can I say something?" causing Diavel and Kibaou to nod in his direction. The player resumed "Hey my name is Agil, Kibaou right?" getting another nod out of Kibaou "I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the Beta-Testers should be blamed for the rookie's deaths because they didn't help them and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings, did I leave anything out?". Kibaou shakes his head in an annoyance "No, you didn't", Agil then opens up his player menu and materializes the player guide "The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?". From a distance I could tell Kibaou was getting annoyed that his spot light was been stolen "Sure I got one. So what about it?". Agil just resumed like he hadn't seen anything "You know who was handing out these out? The Ex-Beta-Testers." This caused several players in the stands to gasp before Agil resumed "Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I came here because I want to learn from those players deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're gonna beat the boss." Several of the players cheered in agreement causing Kibaou to scowl before Agil resumed "And anyway Kibaou, not all Beta's are as bad as you portray them to be haven't you heard of the Guardians". This caused Kibaou scowl to darken even more "Yeah I Have, what of it?" and whispers to emerge from the large groups of players, Myself, Chaos and Techwiz all leaned in not having of the a group of Beta's called the Guardians.

I could have sworn I swore Kirito and Asuna simultaneously look in my, Chaos's and Techwiz's direction before I looked at the stage, at the mention of these Guardians even Diavel looked interested signalling Agil to continue. Agil sighed before he continues "The Guardians consists of three Beta's to be more precise, international Beta's." This caused me, Chaos and Techwiz to look at each other…. This sounded familiar I zoned back in on Agil "These three Beta's are the Ghost Warrior Phantom the leader of the group, the Hell's Fury Chaos the power house/medic of the group and last but not least the Brain Battler Techwiz the strategist and Blacksmith/Merchant ". Me and my party look at each other with Chaos mouthing "Us", Urm… The Guardians….. Strangely enough to me the name seem to fit. I turn around to look Agil again, this time though I saw Kirito and Asuna looking directly at us. Agil then resumes "They are known for helping various players when they can, by helping them with quests or supplying players with Cor or equipment", this caused more whispering amongst the players. "They first made an appearance in the Town of Beginnings, when regular players rushed through town pushing each other out of the way trying to get to the best spots to level up in order to survive after the Death Game announcement. These panicking players accidentally caused a balcony and various creates to almost collapse on top of several children players but they never reached the children because The Guardians saved them". Kibaou had, had enough "OH YEAH IF THEY ARE SO HERIOC WHY AREN'T HERE RIGHT NOW AND IF THEY ARE WHY DO PEOPLE NEVER SEE THEM, I BET THEY ARE JUST A MYTH MADE BY BETA'S TO APPEAR IN A POSSITIVE LIGHT". Several of the players just stared at Kibaou in shock before he could continue Agil surprised everyone again "There not a myth, in fact I have seen them myself because they saved my life at one point and the reason they hide is because of people like you who judge them", I felt my eyes open in surprise because I just remembered why he was so familiar, we did indeed save his life due to the fact that he was a traveling merchant that was ambushed by a horde of monsters which we The Guardian's put a stop to.

Kibaou gave up there and then walking back into stands, Diavel cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "Agil could you get in contact with these Guardians", Agil shook his head but smiled no but I'm sure they will turn up for the battle because if there's one thing I know about The Guardians is that they may hide in plain sight" At that moment I swore I saw Agil look in my direction "but they will not allow the innocent perish to this game as long as they are around and there's a ghost of a chance". I smirk at the last part and nod in Agil's direction, who returns the nod discreetly confirming my theory. Diavel resumes his meeting afterwards "Okay, can we get back to this meeting now? For info on the boss, it's all in here – the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about. According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions – The Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars and when the last ones turns red, he switches to a curved sword typed weapon called a Talwar. He can change his patterns of attack, too. That's it for the briefing. As for distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the EXP and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objects?". This got Diavel silence from the rest of the players "Good! We leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! Meeting adjourned, people and let's hope these Guardians make an appearance".

 **December 3rd 2022 11:30 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Town of Tolbana Tavern Room**

 **Sam/Chaos's POV**

I couldn't sleep, the possibilities of one or all of us dying during the fight was quite high and what that NPC said earlier today was haunting me, maybe I should tell Phantom, before it's too late and I lose him forever. I turn around in my bed and reach over to wake Phantom up but I couldn't do it for one he looked so peaceful for once and the other was that I was too scared to admit my feelings toward him. I then look up at the celling knowing were going to die but then I picture Phantom, no we won't as long as we have Phantom and all the other players such as Kirito and Agil, who are trying to finish the game we will survive and we will escape this game, I finally feel myself slip unconscious into my dreams.

 **December 3rd 2022 12:30 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Dungeon**

A group of players had been separated from the main group of the Boss party, causing them to be ambushed by a large horde of low level Kobold soldiers and to fight for their lives.

 **Random Player's POV**

Why the hell did I agree to this were going to die at the hands of these things all because I agreed to come and then I lead my party the wrong way, I'm so stupid. I turn around to get knocked off my feet and see a Kobold soldier about to kill me with its club, I embrace myself for death when suddenly a Katana appears through the Kobold stomach causing it to be deleted. I look at the figure in shock, the figure was coated in black and white carrying a Katana in shock, before he yells "CHAOS, TECHWIZ PROTECT THE PLAYERS FROM THE KOBOLDS!". After this was said two more figures emerge running at full speed charging the hordes that surrounded my party, I suddenly remember what the player Agil has said about the group of Beta's that helped other players all the time with those exact names so that must mean that the guy who just saved me, was….. no way Phantom. I look at the Beta's take down the ambush like it was nothing before turning to my party in excitement "GUYS!, It's the Guardians", this caused a lots of different things to be said about them like "No way", "There Awesome" and "It can't be them, their a legend, no Beta would sacrifice themselves for another player". Suddenly it turns silent before a black hand coated in steel appears before my face, I look up to see Phantom's masked face "Come on get up, we have to hurry or they will respawn and then none of us might make it", I suddenly realise what he means and grab his hand allowing him to help me up. I look around to see the other guardians helping players up and providing them with health potions and crystals, I then notice Phantom hold out a health potion to me "Here take it, it looked like you took quite a blow, are you alright?", this caused me to laugh before blushing and hastily accept the potion "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just glad someone came along and saved our butts back there". Phantom just smiles "Well we were following the main party from behind and then we noticed you go off in the wrong direction, so we decided to follow you to make sure that you didn't get lost and well then we saw you get ambushed, so I couldn't just let another player die so I did what I had to". This causes me to smile in Phantoms direction before he started to walk back in the direction we all came "Come on then let's catch up with the others", causing everyone else to sprint and catch up with the Ghost Warrior and I can now personally see why he is called that.

 **December 3rd 2022 12:35 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Dungeon Boss Door**

 **Sam/Chaos's POV**

As Phantom led the way back to the main party I couldn't help but notice all the players, we had saved staring at us in admiration, which in my opinion was slightly unnerving but I suppose it was understandable due to the fact we had just saved their lives. By the time we had reached the door, everyone else was already there getting ready for the battle I noticed Kirito and Asuna near the back talking and Phantom was walking towards them with me and Techwiz following behind. Kirito and Asuna turn around to notice us walking towards them both simultaneously saying "Hi", causing them both to look at each other in surprise with a "You know them!" and a "Yes I know them!". I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle but before we could resume our conversation, Diavel got everyone's attention "Listen up, everyone. I've only got one thing to say to you, Let's win! Come on!", this got everyone to charge into the room and charge towards Illfang and his sentinels, the battle is on for the first floor. Diavel shouts out his orders as we take on the boss and his minions "Squads A and C switch in! Here it comes! Squad B, Block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch! Everyone else, when you fall back, regroup and flank them! Squads D,E and F keep those minions off us!". My group, The Guardians were keeping the minions off everyone like ordered and we were working like a well oil machine under Phantom's orders "Techwiz now! Hit them with Slam Smasher to confusion them and then Switch with Chaos to allow her to finish them off". By the time we were done, we had only one enemy left, which was the boss and that's where it started to go wrong with Diavel revealing his true nature, a selfish person who was using others as cannon fodder. "Stay back! I've got it!", he charged directly at Illfang in an attempt to get the last kill reward with Kirito shouting at him to stop, only for Diavel to ignore him and get hit by a weapon from Illfang that wasn't in the Beta. I stare at Diavel in shock as he starts to be deleted from the system and Phantom and Kirito ran over trying to stop him from dying, I knew that even if he got his just dessert, no one deserves to be punished like that". I'm suddenly broken from my train of thought when I hear a shout "CHAOS! MOVE!" I look in time just to see Illfang swing his No-Dachi at me and several players but we couldn't get out of the way in time.

Suddenly we are pushed out of the way by Phantom causing him to be hit by the No-Dachi and his health to plummet to zero, I feel like I had been slapped in the face my best friend the one I love was dying. I run over to Phantoms body with Techwiz in pursuit and gently lift his head up with tears cascading down my face "Why did you do that?", Phantom looks at me and gently laughs "You still haven't figure it out have you and they call me clueless" this causes to get a laugh out of Techwiz before Phantom resumed, "I did it because it is my job and because I love you Chaos, I couldn't let you die it's my job to protect, not yours". Phantoms body starts to delete from his feet causing the tears from my eyes to fall harder and I could feel several eyes on us "You stupid, moronic, idiot, you can't leave me like this, please don't go, I LOVE YOU!". But Phantom's eye start to close and with his last breath whispers "I'm so sorry Sam, Tucker take care of her please", Techwiz looks up with teary eyes and nods at Phantom before pulling me away from Phantom "NO STOP, WE CAN SAVE HIM, PLEASE TECHWIZ, HE CAN'T DIE, HE'S PHANTOM, I LOVE HIM!". Techwiz kept whispering apologies to me quietly and pulling me out of the way of the various attacks from Illfang which Kirito and Asuna charged head on, while I watch Danny's body be deleted slowly. Suddenly me and Techwiz as well as the other players are surrounded by several newly spawned Kobold Sentinels causing cries of panic from various players including ones we had saved earlier "This wasn't mentioned in the guide!". I step forward to receive the blows from their attacks to receive the blows to join the man I loved in the afterlife causing a cry of panic from Techwiz but I didn't care. Everything slowed down, all the players around me were about to be killed including myself and then out of the corner of my eye I see a familiar blue flash and hear an even familiar battle cry, "I'M GOING GHOST!", causing several people behind me to gasp and me and Techwiz to look at each other in shock.

 **December 3rd 2022 13:15 PM AST Aincrad Between Floor One Dungeon and Deletion**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

I felt my self just drifting there between life and death happy because I finally accept that I loved Sam. The life and death part was actually quite ironic because of my half death/alive status, but shouldn't of Kayaba made the death process a lot quicker, I wonder to myself, actually scratch that he is a mad man, he probably wants the players to suffer their deaths as painful as possible. What was strange was that I couldn't get what the NPC said out of my head, was it actually a message from my ghost guardian/teacher or was it my subconscious trying to make me feel better about this situation. Before I could decide I hear his voice "Now young Phantom, don't tell me you have accepted your fate after every you have done", I chuckle a bit "What can I do though, I dying Master?". My response got a laugh out of him this time "Ah but if you have truly died how are you still here and able to talk to me", I sigh at his response "I don't know, Kayaba must have a twisted mind maybe", this again gets another laugh out of mentor "No young Phantom you're here because it isn't your time yet, the world, multiple worlds still need a Phantom to protect them". My response to this was unanswered "What do mean?", he had left and suddenly I hear Tucker shouting to Sam "Chaos, don't do what I think your about to do, it won't bring Phantom back" followed by several screams of panic ""This wasn't mentioned in the guide!", I suddenly feel a shift of energy I hadn't felt in a month. Thank you mentor I know what I have to do, hopefully this plan will work, I take a deep breath and pull at the energy before screaming at the top of my lungs "I'M GOING GHOST!"

 **December 3rd 2022 13:15 PM AST Aincrad Floor One Dungeon Boss Room**

 **Tucker/Techwiz's POV**

When I heard that familiar voice and battle cry I could believe my ears, how could he have survived but my thoughts are interrupted by the approaching long sword coming at my head from the Kobold Sentinel in front of me. Suddenly it vanishes into deleting data by a familiar black and white blur that takes out each of the Sentinels in a few blows before moving onto the next. A message appears in front of all the players breaking my concentration on the blur, the message simply read "Congratulations", I couldn't believe it we had won, we had beaten the first boss fight of the game but it was costly, we had lost two players, one who was a close friend, almost a brother. Suddenly everyone starts cheering before a sharp sheathing sound is heard behind them causing everyone to turning around and see a familiar figure standing there. It was Phantom, he had survived deletion somehow and he was in his ghost form but that was impossible he couldn't access that in the game, he could only access a few powers, unless he was now fully dead. Although there was no mistaking it, it was my best friend, my brother, standing there in front of me, the transformation hadn't actual done many changes to his appearance, the only changes were that his hair and eyes had changed to their famous snowy white and Neon green colours and his trench coat now had a massive blazing Phantom logo on the left side near his heart. I finally comprehend what has happened and feel my feet collapse from underneath me while Chaos charges into Phantom after he changes back into his human form giving him a hug, causing him to wobble in an attempt to keep his balance before she slaps him and then pulls him into a kiss.

Players around started to whistle and cheering again before Kibaou had enough before pointing and Kirito and Phantom "Stop cheering! What are you, you freak of nature?! How did you cheat the system! Why did you and your friends do it, huh? Why'd you let Diavel die?!". Kirito looked heartbroken "Let him die?" while Phantom just looked down crying, Kibaou looked like he was enjoying the attention he was getting "That's what I said. Admit it! You and the freak's gang knew the technique the boss was going to use. You could've told us! Then Diavel would've stood a chance….. or better yet might have been brought back if the freak told us how he came back". A player behind Kibaou started to back him up "I know why they knew! They used to all be Beta-Testers! Think about it! They knew the boss's attack patterns! Phantom even knew a way to cheat deletion, they knew, but they kept it from us! And I bet there not the only Beta-Testers here! Come on, show yourselves!" I had, had enough but before I could do anything Chaos releases her grip around Phantom's neck before charging at Kibaou in anger and grabbing hold of him "First things first, you do realise that the Beta you just accused of cheating death is THE PHANTOM, YOU KNOW EARTH'S PROTECTOR AGAINST GHOSTS!". Oh boy, she really gone and done it this time, when she had said this several players stared at Phantom in shock, while others whispered in surprise, Chaos just ignored everyone "AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS, WHY DIDN'T HE US HIS POWERS EARLIER HE COULDN'T, THE SYSTEM PREVENTED HIM FROM USING THEM AND IF WE KNEW AWAY TO CHEAT THE SYSTEM AND ESCAPE DELETION WE WOULD HAVE TOLD EVERYONE ABOUT IT, SO SHUT UP!". Agil attempted to calm everyone down but before he could he Kirito interrupted him get shocked expressions in the process "So, you guys think I use to be a Beta-Tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs."

Kibaou started to lose his own temper now "What'd you say?" Kirito started to get up from the floor "You heard me. Most of the people who scored a slot in SAO's beta were rookies, there were only a few exceptions. They ones that were rookies were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were. But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the Beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss, cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors! I know a bunch of other things, too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker." Kibaou had lost control of the situation but he wasn't going to give up "W-what the hell? If that's true, then you're worse than a Beta Tester! You're a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!" I could of sworn I saw Phantom smirk before I realised what Kirito was doing he was taking the blame off the other Betas, this caused me to smirk. Kibaou's friend wanted part of this as well by the looks of it "He's a Beta Tester and a cheater! He's a Beater", Kirito just smiled before equipping a midnight black trench coat before walking away "A Beater….. Yeah, that's good. I like it Okay, you can call me a Beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those other Beta-Testers or The Guardians anymore". Kirito then walked up to the door leading to the next floor with Asuna in pursuit, Phantom then past me with Chaos in hand "Come on Techwiz let's get to the next floor, before anything else happens", causing me to smirk and run after them and start walking up the stairs to the next floor.

 **December 3rd 2022 14:00 PM AST Aincrad Floor Two Savannah Hill Top Mountains**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

I sat there with Chaos's head on my right shoulder and Techwiz standing on my left admiring the view, sure we are in a Death Game but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the view occasionally. My thoughts are interrupted by Techwiz "So, how did you survive deletion and are you a full ghost now", I sigh in Techwiz's direction and feel Chaos's hand weave its way into my own "I don't think the system could kill me at that point Tech, I think that my ice core prevented the microwave device in the Nerve Gear from frying my brain but I have a feeling that Kayaba has probably fixed that". I fidget causing Chaos to give me firm stare "What else aren't telling us?" I start to panic before giving up due to Chaos's stare "Fine, I didn't think about using my powers while I died until, I thought I heard mentors voice tell me that multiple worlds still need Phantom". This caused Techwiz to look at me with excitement "Does that mean that he is watching over us", I nod at him "I think so". Before we could continue I hear foot steps behind me, so I jump and have The Requiem of The Lost Soul at the neck of one of the approaching players, only to find Asuna, Klein and Agil standing there. I immediately sheath my blade, while Chaos and Techwiz approach from behind, I look at players I almost killed with a sheepish expression "Sorry Guys, I didn't mean to kill you, just scare you off and….. why are you giving me that weird expression?". Klein was looking at me like I had grown two heads "Man, are really THE PHANTOM as in the WORLD FIRST REAL SUPER HERO!" I then nod sheepishly while rubbing my neck "Y..Yeah" Asuna and Agil then look at each other "Knew it", Klein turns around to them "How did you know he was Phantom?" Asuna then sighs at Klein "Do you want me to make a list of reasons why?" Klein just nods at Asuna slowly. Causing her to sigh "Fine, Number One: He chose his hero name as his avatars. Number 2: He looks exactly the same in his human form as he does in his ghost form. Number 3: Phantom goes missing the same time a local boy of the same appearance slips into a Nerve Gear Coma and finally he acts just like a hero." Chaos and Techwiz burst out into laughter at my own stupidity and Klein's face before I blush in embarrassment "Okay fine, I wasn't the best, at hiding my secret identity but at least I got the job done." Agil then smiles at me "You know I'm, in fact all of us even if those other players, who didn't show it are grateful you managed to gain your powers back and help us during and before that boss battle". I smile back at him before looking off into the distance pulling up my mask "Well guys for future reference, If you need help in this Death Game and theirs a ghost of a chance of surviving, you know who to call." I then run off leaving the Agil, Asuna and Klein shaking their heads at me with Chaos following behind holding my hand and Techwiz screaming about running, lagging behind.

 **NEXT TIME ON SWORD ART ONLINE**

 **CHRISTMAS CONUMDRUM'S**


	3. Chapter 3: Christmas Conundrums!

SAO: Guardian Guild Chronicles

Chapter 3: Christmas Conundrums!

 **December 21** **st** **2022 17:00 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four City of Lobria Bright Shine Tavern**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

It's been a few weeks since the whole creation of the term Beater and the discovery of me been the world renown hero Phantom. Several others events had occurred during this span of time such as the first official town opening on Floor Two, the defeating of the floor boss Two and Three and unfortunately people are still quite sore about The Guardians and the Black Swordsman, Kirito. Right now, I was waiting in the local tavern on my own, hidden in a corner for my contact to arrive, I wonder how Chaos is doing right now, I start rubbing my hand to get rid of an itch causing me to catch my wedding ring. I smile, thinking back to when Chaos proposed the idea back on the Third Floor after getting out selves into a sticky situation involving a horde of enemies called Terror Trikes, ugly things might I add and because Chaos was scared of losing me again, not that she would admit it, suggested that we should live life to the fullest here while we can and that should include marriage. When Chaos suggested it, I will admit that I fainted which Techwiz found highly amusing, Chaos on the other hand not so much but when I managed to wake up she did place a good argument about how we could die at any moment and that we knew each other so well since we grew up together, so I accepted her proposal. Currently Techwiz and my adoring wife Chaos are out gathering Cor by various green player means for my plan. My train of thought was interrupted by the approach of a figure who was hooded and sat down right in front of me. "Well, well who thought my ickle Ghost Boy, would be The actual Ghost Boy of Amity Park" I groan and roll my eyes "Very funny Argo, now what do you want?". Argo was of a pale complexion with red paint on her face as well as having dark brown hair with brown eyes and she was wearing a brown cloak. Argo just simply smirks in my direction "What I want isn't important right now, it's what you want that is important, well as long as it's information at least". Dealing with Argo was a pain sometimes because she could get under the skin of any player "Argo, I need information on the guild quest" this causes Argo's ears to perk up, a sign I had caught her interest. "Ok now, you have my attention but if I didn't know any better I would think that ickle Phantom is trying to license the name, he and his friends were given by the other players" this is why I hate dealing with her sometimes but I'm the only one out of my family that can actually deal with Argo without losing it, Techwiz walks away from her and Chaos… oh boy don't get me started on my wife.

I look Argo directly in the eyes with a serious look and for the first time I cause Argo to flinch "Argo what do you know?" Argo looks at me nervously "First of all, when you stare like that did you know you do your ghost eyes and second of all, that sort of information costs quite a bit." I was shocked that I had accidently let loose some of my power, looks like I need to start training again, Damn I was hoping I didn't need to practise with in the game and double damn I knew this was going to back fire. I sigh before looking at Argo "Ok Argo, what is the information going to cost?" Argo just smiles at me "Nothing to costly, just to be part of your guild." I feel my jaw drop when she said this "What I thought, you were like Kirito, a solo player, you didn't do guilds or parties, so what's changed?" Argo just looks back at me nervously "Look we all know, right now that Beta's or Beaters as some of us are called aren't in the best light, especially info brokers like me and the only ones that aren't getting bad mouthed are The Guardians as you were dubbed, so I thought that if I joined The Guardians it might improve my Info broking and also benefit the guild as well." I look at Argo with a sad smile "Argo, not to spoil your moment but The Guardians aren't doing very well with other players right now either, not since they found out about me cheating death/been a ghost powered hero". Argo shook her head in response "That is where you are wrong Phantom, even with players like Kibaou bad mouthing you the rest of the player population are still seeing you as heroes, especially since everyone now knows who you really are and that you came back from death to protect them from a similar fate." I felt shocked that people still trusted us even though a majority of the population of trapped players hated Beta's, I mulled over the offer before looking at Argo again "Ok, Argo you can join The Guardians". Then Argo did something I never expected from her she hugged me "Thank you, I won't let you down and by the way, the Quest you asked about was completed recently by a player called Heathcliff, meaning guilds can now be formed". Argo then let go of me and I smiled in her direction due to the fact that I was pleased that the quest I was looking for had been completed meaning that it would make the next part of my mission easier to do. I then make Argo jump when I slam my fist into the table causing my drink to spill over "Come on then let's go meet up with the others then", Argo nods at me nervously.

 **December 21st 2022 17:10 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four City of Lobria Market**

 **Sam/Chaos's POV**

As I walk into the market to sell the various items that we had collected so far to local vendors, I could help but think how my husband was dealing with Argo, she always managed to annoy us. I laugh to myself quietly, Husband it was weird to think of Phantom as that but at the same time it seemed to fit, if anyone could get info out of Argo it was him, my train of though was interrupted by a familiar voice "Buy Cheap, Sell Cheap, get it here", I walk over to the general direction that the voice came from, to find Agil on one of the rentable market stalls. I walk over to the stall "Hey Agil", this been said causes him to fall of his stand from shock before he pulls himself up and then smiles in my direction "Hello Chaos" he then pauses and gives me a good look over, which makes me feel quite self-conscious "Or should I say Mrs Phantom, now." This causes me to blush a heavy shade of red "Agil, please I'm here on business", this causes a smirk on Agil's face "Well if you are looking for business, I'm your man, so what will it be?" I smile at Agil's enthusiasm, before opening up my menu and placing various items that we decided that we didn't need any more on his stall, causing his jaw to drop at all the items and making me laugh. I then calmed myself down before resuming "You see we decided that we had no need for these items, so how much would you offer for all of them" Agil starts to use his appraiser skill to analyse all the items "Well in total I can offer you six thousand Cor for all this" I look at Agil for a while thinking the offer over before nodding "Their all yours." Agil then hands over the Cor which I accept before turning around and walking away to another store nearby to by some food for tonight, just before I leave the Lobria Market the last thing I hear is "Buy Cheap, Sell Cheap, Items Supplied by The Guardians" causing a soft smile to appear on my face.

 **December 21st 2022 17:30 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four City of Lobria The Guardians Hut**

I enter the hut we had purchased for living in, until we could find a more suitable place of operations but for now it was agreeable due to the fact it offered several beds, a small kitchen and a bathroom mostly made out of cheap materials. Eventually I noticed I was greeted with a familiar sight Techwiz working away on his bed trying to upgrade his Crafting/Blacksmith skills, he stops when he sees me "Hey Mrs Phantom, how did it go?" The first thing I do is punch him for the Mrs Phantom comment before walking into the kitchen and starting to prepare the meal for tonight "It went fine Tech, in fact it went better then fine because I met Agile at a rentable store in the market and he offered a good amount of Cor for all of our excess items." Techwiz shoots up and walks over to me "How much did he offer?" I smile at my friend's enthusiasm "Six thousand", I start to laugh when I see his jaw drop but before he could continue the front door opens. I move into the bed room/living room to see my husband enter with to my surprise Argo of all people, I walk up to Phantom and greet him home with quick kiss to the cheek, earning a blush from him, a laugh from Techwiz and a snicker from Argo. I then turn to Argo "Argo, what a surprise, I though you liked to not be seen with other players unless you were giving information?" Argo blushes at my comment "Well you see Chaos, in exchange for the information Phantom wanted", I scowl in Phantom's direction causing him to pale and shake his head in a no motion vigorously, Argo not noticing the silent conversation continues what she was say "He had to allow me to join the Guardians when they officially become a guild." In those last few seconds all I saw was red and then heard a large scream as well as a burst of laughter.

 **December 21st 2022 17:50 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four City of Lobria The Guardians Hut**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

After twenty minutes of me rubbing my head trying to sooth the pain from Chaos's blow, several apologies and an explanation over dinner to Chaos, we were all finally on the same page, Thank goodness. We all sat around the table in the kitchen discussing our plans to form the guild that would be known by the name players gave us, The Guardians, Techwiz was the first to speak up "So now we have the name and know who the current members are, who is going to be the guild master and what are the other positions within the guild". I look down at the table surface while thinking before looking up to see the other stare at me with knowing looks, I suddenly realise why "Ooo….oh no, I'm not been the guild master, I'm not qualified to lead anyone." Argo takes the chance to find a way into the conversation "Oh really, you not qualified don't make me laugh, you're a hero, you've led various players in this game out of various dangerous predicaments and you are a natural leader, you are the Guild Master." I sigh in defeat "All right but what about you lot, what are your jobs then?" Chaos just smiles at me "That question is an obvious one, my love I'm the second in command and medic, Techwiz is the Blacksmith/Merchant as well as one of our strategist and Argo is our Scout/Info Broker and second strategist". I give Chaos a hug at her planning, causing her to blush "Well done, Chaos, next all we need is a symbol for out guild, all guilds need a symbol". We all look around thoughtfully trying to think of a symbol which could represent our guild perfectly, Argo was the one with the solution "Right I think I got the perfect symbol" causing our attention to turn to her "As you said we need a symbol that represents what we stand for, what we stand for is hope correct", this got her a nod from the rest of us, so she continued "The symbol that brings hope the most to the players trapped in SAO and the people of the outside world is that of our own guild master". When everyone looks at me I feel like I was going to burn like an ant under a magnifying glass before I start panicking "No….N….O spells no, we are not using my symbol, people will think that I am self-centred."

Argo just smiles at me along with the other members of my family "No they won't, soon people will see this symbol and know help as well as hope are here and we are here to stay, so Guild Master are we going to do it or what?" I let out a big sigh before opening up my menu and select create guild, after that I fill in the guild details and let Chaos draw the symbol into the system, since she created the original symbol. The system then checks if anyone was using that name or any of the details yet before sending an invite to join the guild to all the indicated players that were indicated in the guild set up. The others then accepted the invites to The Guardians, causing the guilds symbol to appear above their health bar and the formation of The Guardians was complete. Chaos then stands up "Right Techwiz, Argo please hand over two pieces of your armour?" causing the two to look at her in confusion "Why?" Chaos just rolls her eyes "Just trust me" Techwiz and Argo quickly removed two pieces of their armour before Chaos ripped them off their bodies, then Chaos left the room. Chaos returns twenty minutes later with armour placing it on the table in front of us, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed something different about Chaos's own armour, there above her heart on the left was the guilds symbol and the same symbol was on the side of her shoulders as well. I came to the conclusion that Chaos had done the same to the others armour as well, I look down at the table to see Argo's cloak on the front left and on her right vambrace had the guild symbol on them, while Techwiz's shoulder guards had the guild symbol on the front and sides. Chaos received thanks from Argo and Techwiz and a long kiss from me causing me to notice she had engraved the symbol on our rings as well.

 **December 23** **rd** **2022 17:50 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four Outskirts of the City of Lobria**

 **No One's POV**

The Guardians were currently training out in a field, not too far from capital of floor 4, Techwiz and Argo were sparing, while Phantom was meditating on a tree stump trying to get control over his powers again since in SAO his control had seemed to have vanished and Chaos was nearby trying to perfect a new skill for Dusk's Edge.

 **Tucker/Techwiz's POV**

I've got to admit even though Argo doesn't see much combat any more due to her position as a Info Broker, she is still fairly strong as a player, in other words I was getting my butt handed to me as usually when I fight a friend. The problem with my fighting style was that it involved me moving quite slowly due to the weight of Slam Smasher, so I couldn't block speed based attacks like Argo's Claws, which is her speciality, but what Slam Smasher can't make up in speed it makes up in power and that can be quite a problem for my opponent if I land a hit on them. I barley dodge one of Argo's quick claw strikes before seeing my opening and hitting Argo across the chest with Slam Smasher causing her to go flying across the field and officially ending the duel. I glance at Argo before realising what had happened "HA, I WON FOR ONCE I ACTUALLY WON!" I notice Argo get up of the ground from the corner of my eye before clapping in my direction "Well, done Techwiz, what's the score now?… Ah yes Twenty Five to One." Once this is said I feel myself face fault into the ground earning a chuckle from both Argo and Chaos's direction but not Phantom's. I turn around to see Phantom just sat on the same tree stump in a trance causing me and Chaos to frown, Argo looks at Phantom in concern "Is Phantom, all right?" I pause unsure about how to answer that question, Argo then sighs in my direction "So let me guess, we don't know….. Great!" Chaos then approaches Phantom and snaps her fingers in front of his face only to get no reaction from him. We then attempted several different things to try and snap Phantom out of his meditated state including Chaos kissing him but nothing seemed to work, until we heard a scream.

We all jumped from hearing the scream, except Phantom who seemed to snap out of his trance causing us all to jump again from him jumping up from the tree stump and summersaulting in mid-air, landing in between me and Chaos. Argo looked at Phantom with a dropped jaw, while I and Chaos started at him in concern. Phantom looks in the direction of the scream "That scream came from two players, one male and one female, the scream originated from southeast of here, they need help" He starts to walk in the direction of the screams before looking over his shoulder at the rest of us "Are guys coming or what?" I then notice Chaos shake her head before smirking at Phantom "I wouldn't be much of a wife or a team mate if I didn't keep you out of trouble or help you when you needed it" I then look at Chaos and Phantom before bursting out in laughter and slapping my hand on Phantom's shoulder. "Bro, we been through thick and thin together, our job has been and will always will be heroes and because of that we became closer than before, closer than friends, we became a family and now we have a chance to show this world that nothing will change that, so let's go and do our job, dude." Argo just remain silent through the entire exchange before walking up to Phantom "Well what are we waiting for Guild Master, the innocent ickle players to get killed by Aincrad know what is out there." Phantom smirks in the direction of all his guild mates "Thanks, guys now let's show Aincrad what The Guardians are made off".

 **December 23rd 2022 18:20 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four Lobrian Lake**

 **No One's POV**

The Guardians were perched on cliff face that gave them a view of the Lobrian Lake, trying to pin point the two players that had screamed, Phantom was at the front of the group trying to use his enhanced sight to locate the two players, while Chaos was by his side trying to find a way down the cliff. Argo and Techwiz were behind Phantom and Chaos checking the guild's supplies to make sure they had enough potions and crystals for this mission, Phantom then narrows his eyes "Guys, I found the players and by the looks of it, it's not good", Chaos looks at Phantom in concern "How bad", Phantom sighs "By looks of it an horde of Krustatian Knights has surrounded those two players…. Hold one of those players is that kid from the Tolbana Tavern what was his name…. Might and the other player, Damn I can't get a good look at them." Chaos tenses at the mention of two children been out on their own this far without an older player to support them, while Argo narrows her eyes and Techwiz clenches his jaw shut. Phantom turns around to face his team mates before pulling The Requiem of the Lost Soul out its sheath and started to use it to draw the battle plan on the floor.

 **Might's POV**

Personally when I teamed up with this player to deliver an important message to all the players in the capital of this floor, I thought it was going to be easy, well now not so much turns out the route we were using has recently been taken over by hordes of monsters. This led to me and my temporary partner been ambushed by these freaks, severally outnumber I thought to myself what would Phantom do…. I know, he would fight till the end, never giving up, so that's what I will do. As I block a Krustatian Long Sword with my shield using a Shield Smash Shield Skill before then using a Horizontal Slice Sword Skill to take out a couple of the monsters in front of me before I get caught by a hammer sending me flying across the battle field "Damn!" My partner runs up to me blocking an incoming strike with her Death Dagger, "Leave him, alone" but before she could counter she gets hit by a Klaw Klubber. I see my life flash before my eyes, when I see a blade heading straight for my heart, I close my eyes in preparation only to hear a clang and a "No way, it can't be him" from my partner. Causing me to open my eyes and see Phantom speeding by using his katana to cut down several of the monsters "Guardians defend these kids" followed by Chaos and Techwiz who were pushing back the Krustatians using their strongest attacks all of them wearing Phantom's Symbol like a badge of honour. Suddenly I shaken by a hand of cloaked female who also wore Phantom's Symbol "Come on, Might get up" causing me to look at her in shock, before she turns around to my partner "You too ki… That's not possible, who are you?" I see that the cloaked female is looking at my partner with a look of anger before shaking her head "It doesn't matter, just follow me."

I look in the direction of Phantom and the rest of his team "But what about them?", the female just sighs "Don't worry about them, the Guild Master has a plan", I look back in the direction of Phantom before getting up and running to a breach in the enemies defence. But before we could escape the ambush, all of us started to be boxed in by more hordes of monsters including Phantom's assault group. Eventually we were all back to back and losing health fast, this was it, we are all going to die, Phantom wasn't giving up though "Guys", I see the rest of Phantom's team nod in his direction, I look around in panic, then I hear it, the Phrase, I thought I would never hear "I'M GOING GHOST!" A Bright light engulfs my field of vision and standing there in front of me was Phantom in his ghost form, the hero of earth, my hero, I hear my partner from behind me "It is him, I thought I was imagining it, but I'm not, he's here, my…", I didn't here the rest of my partners rant because of the sudden screaming from the monster due to Phantom speeding by using a Sword Skills for his Katana to slice them to pieces.

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

Its official I suck at planning, I know this now due to the fact that we are getting boxed in by all the monsters, I have only one choice right now, time for the backup plan. I look around at the rest of my team "Guys" they all nod in my direction indicating they understand what I am about to do, I take a deep breath searching for the power inside of me, as I trigger the transformation "I'M GOING GHOST!", I sense a power similar yet different to my own, one I had not sensed for a while. Although my train of thought was interrupted when I see the hordes of monsters attempt to finish us off once and for all, my response was immediate, I block several attacks with the horizontal katana slice sword skill before responding with a single vertical slice katana sword skill defeating all the monsters in front of me. I kept this up until the ground shook causing us all to fall onto the ground and all the enemies around us to shatter into data, I then look up to see a massive monster, most likely the field boss of floor four. The monster had five health bars and was looked like a massive lobster but the only difference was that it had six arms armed to the teeth with cleaver like claws, Next to the health bar was a name, and the name stated King Lobo of The Krustatians. I take one more look before shouting over my shoulder "RUN, GET THE PLAYERS AND YOUR SELVES OUT OF HERE I WILL HANDLE THIS!" I could hear Chaos protest in the background as she was dragged by Techwiz and the others to get out of the boss's line of site. I look at Lobo "COME AND GET ME YOU OVER GROWN SEA SLUG!"The boss then responds by dropping four of its arms, in an attempt to crush me for me only to roll out of the way and slash its arm several times in an attempt to harm it, only causing its health to drop by a fragment.

I dodge another attack from Lobo, I could have sworn, I heard Might go wow at one point from my constant dodging, I start to get tired from the constant dodging, only to face palm myself when I remember I can fly in my ghost form. I then leap into the air, only to realise that after a good ten seconds that I was falling and a lot of error messages were appearing in front of my eyes. I hear a scream from the other player we attempted to rescue along with Chaos which snaps me out of my shock and I notice the creature's weak point on its head. You see some bosses in SAO are incredibly strong but they have one major downfall, they have a weak spot on them but they are often heavily guarded by the monster or their minions. I spin around in the air before using my Ecto-energy to launch myself toward Lobo's weak point on his head "AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" As I fall towards the weak point with my Katana nose diving for the spot, I hear more screams from Chaos and the other player but I can't hear what they are saying due to the wind. When I collide with the ground I look up to see a giant hole in King Lobo's head and see him disintegrate into data before I feel a sharp pain in my core causing me to collapse. I notice that my health bar is nearly depleted before I feel my eyes slowly close and I see two shadowed figures run up to me, I feel the first one wrap their arms around me in a hug and at first I assume it's Chaos but then my assumption is changed when I hear the shadow scream "DAD!"

 **December 24** **th** **2022 21:40 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four The Guardians Hut**

I feel myself waking up from my healing state which Techwiz calls my Still Death State meaning that my body stops responding to certain factors but my heart is still beating but only at 10 heart beats per second. I hear someone approach by the sound of it is Chaos, I feel her stand next to me before feeling my forehead obviously checking my condition since she out of all of the Guardians is familiar with a Halfa's Anatomy. I then open my eyes to see Chaos's beautiful amethyst eye looking at my own, this causes her to blush before slapping me and then realising that I am awake "PHANTOM!" and starts to hug me to death. I soon feel myself not been able to breath "Ch….Chaos, cc…a..can't breathe", Chaos lets go of me in shock with a massive blush on her face "I'm so sorry", I laugh in her direction before getting me a glare from Chaos "Hey don't glare, I didn't mean that nastily, I only laughed because you a goth showed how much you cared." This earns me another blush from Chaos, I then remember one of the blurs while I was passing out call me Dad, I turn to ask Chaos who said that but before I could ask a young girl of the age of twelve barges into hut. When I saw the young girl I immediately knew who it was and I couldn't believe it, it was Danielle, my clone. She hadn't change that much since I had seen her fly off dramatically, her eyes were still the same icy blue but they had a few specks of Amethyst purple in them, her hair was still black but she had grown in out making I reach just past her shoulders. Her outfit was black fitting leather that had a few green streaks of purple and neon green in it and a few pieces of steel armour on her elbows and knees. The only major difference in Dani's appearance was that her face had matured and looked more like a combination of mine and Chaos's faces.

Dani obviously hadn't noticed that I was awake yet as she approached Chaos, although she did look very concerned "Mum, is Dad awake yet?" I look at Chaos in shock before mouthing Mum and Dad to myself. Chaos just looks at Dani with a motherly look…. Wait what?, Chaos has never been motherly, she wouldn't even baby sit her cousins, my train of thought was interrupted again by Chaos's response "Why don't you see for yourself, honey." I then notice Dani twirl as I am sitting up in my bed, she freezes when she sees me before charging at me and pulling me in a hug "DAD!" I freeze there and then when she said that "Dani, what do you mean by Dad?" Dani let's go of me in shock and then starts to look around frantically until Chaos lays a hand gently on her shoulder causing Dani's shoulder to drop. Dani turns around to see Chaos's caring face "Go on tell him, what you told me" Dani sighs before turning around to face me again "What I mean by Dad is that you are my genetic father", I feel myself freeze up at this, although Dani doesn't seem to notice "and Sa…..I mean Chaos is my genetic mother." Dani then sits down in a nearby chair, while Chaos leaves the room "You see a month before SAO was launched I was camping outside on the coast of Japan due to the fact I was visiting a friend and while I was fishing I noticed that my face had started to mature, this caused me to panic." Dani actually started to laugh at that "You see at first I thought I was starting to destabilise again but then I realised that this was natural, but I didn't look like you as much, which I begin to question but I couldn't get any answers at the time, due to the fact that DALV Industries didn't have any facilities in Japan."

Dani then sighs "I started to get more concerned, the more my faced changed, then I heard that DALV had just opened its first international facility in Japan, so I did what any good Phantom would do, I broke in to investigate, avoiding all of the ghost proof security. By the time I had reached the main server most of the security was getting ready for the morning patrols, I managed to bypass my way around the main server, until I found Plasmius's personal files which I had all access pass, access the files." I then notice Dani had started to cry not because she was upset but because she was happy "When I found the Project PS, Perfect Son by the way", this causes me and Dani to shudder. Before Dani resumes still crying tears of happiness "The files stated that I wasn't a clone, my genetic sample had actually been another attempt at making Vlad's perfect son by combining you DNA with one of Sam's Eggs, don't ask me how he got it, cause the files don't specify and for the first time I felt like I had a family, I family I hoped would accept me for who I am, a father and mother who would love me." I attempt to make sense of what I am feeling about this "And before you ask, why didn't I come to you immediately and how did I end up in SAO, I can also answer that." Dani laughs sadly "I escaped the Japanese facility before making my way here, only to get intercepted by Skulker who Vlad had sent after me to eliminate his mistake", I let out a soft growl at this but before I could say anything Dani had resumed "Skulker managed to severally injure me, causing me to crash into my friend's house, lucky I reverted back into my human half before she could see me, after that she healed me back to health but wouldn't allow me to leave until I was fully recovered, She tried her best to keep me company and suggested that we play her new game SAO together, since I had mentioned you played Doom VR, so well that's that I suppose." I look at Dani in concern, I can see the fear of rejection in her eyes, I sigh before opening up my arms to her in a loving way "Dani, Come here", Dani gets up and goes into the hug looking slightly nervous but she breaks into tears when I gently whisper into her ear "I love you, my little girl, my Daughter". I then feel arms weave their way around both me and Dani, I then notice Chaos joining the hug as well, I then make a promise to them "I promise, I will get us out of here and we will be a proper family in both this world and the real world."

 **December 24th 2022 21:40 PM AST Aincrad Floor Four Outside The Guardians Hut**

 **Argo's POV**

As we waited for the Guild Master's Family to be successfully reunited and have their happy moment inside our current base of operations. I hear Might still trying to understand the current situations while he is talking to Techwiz "So you are tell me that one of Phantom's Archenemies attempted to clone Phantom in an attempt to make himself a perfect son and end the result was Spook, who eventually rebelled against Plasmius after discovering who he actually was, only later to return to Phantom after discovering that she was breaking down due to having an unstable DNA code.", I feel my own irritation grow the more I'm near the kid but before I could act, I hear Techwiz sigh "Yes, although technically she isn't his clone but actually his daughter after an accident happened with the sample DNA making both Chaos and Phantom her parents." I had enough of this, so I intervene "So that's her story kid, alright please don't go bothering the Guild Master or his family with this please….. wait a minute you called her Spook why?"Might just looks at me shocked "What she didn't tell you, her username is Spook, when we were traveling together I asked her about it, she did mention something about it been in honour of someone that was very important to her." I feel a smile appear on my face before I respond "So Phantom, even has a place in his ickle Daughter's Heart, it seems he has a way with the masses" This gets a laugh out of Techwiz, I then notice Might shuffling nervously, I narrow my eyes in his direction as does Techwiz "Kid are you all right?" This causes Might to stiffen in shock "Y…yes, why?", I could have laughed at the kids hasty attempt at covering his emotions "Kid you can't lie to Argo the Rat, so why were you so nervous", this earns a sigh from him "Alright fine I will tell you" This earns me a high five from Techwiz which I don't think Might noticed as he continued "I was wondering if I could…. You know…. Maybe…. Possibly join the Guardians?" I feel my jaw drop and I'm sure Techwiz's had as well, this kid wanted to be part of our guild, the guild that currently was known for helping players survive various near death experiences, I recover myself before the kid notices "Listen Might, we aren't the ones to ask, if anything, if this question was asked in a normal situation, it would be taken up, by either The Guild Master or his Second in Command and currently they both busy." Might just sighs "I know, it's just that I want to help you guys out after everything you and Phantom has done for everyone, I think that this is the best way to repay you." I then smile and nod in Might's direction "We will take that into consideration, Kid but for now just be patient" Might smiles back at me but before he could say anything Spook sticks her head out of the door "hey are you guys coming in or what?", this gets a laugh out of Techwiz "Like Father like Daughter", this gets a annoyed glare out of Spook "Shut up Unc" before we all enter our home. 

**NEXT TIME ON SWORD ART ONLINE**

 **Blood Oaths and Guardians**


	4. Chapter 4: Blood Oaths and Guardians!

SAO: Guardian Guild Chronicles

Chapter 4: Blood Oaths and Guardians!

 **February 11** **th** **2023 10:00 AM AST Aincrad Floor Twenty-Six Abandoned Ruins, Twenty-Six Floor Boss Meet**

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

It's been two months, since I have been reunited with my daughter Dani or as she likes to be called in this death game Spooks. Much has happened since then, mainly that so far working together the players of SAO we have managed to clear another Twenty-Two floors meaning we are now past the one fourth of clearing the game, if we keep up this pace we will manage to complete the game in no time, but sometimes I wonder to myself at what cost.

Several other things have occurred during this span of time, first of all Spooks and Might joined the Guardians mainly because they were young children playing a death game, also both me and Chaos believe that it is for the best that Spooks stays with us, while Might just begged to be in the guild.

The downside is that I still don't have full control over my powers in SAO, it's like my control has gone back to the first day I got my powers and Spooks for some reason can't access hers at all, so I am slightly concerned that I am the only Halfa able to use my powers in SAO, is it because of my death in the game or another reason?

My train of is interrupted by two Guild leaders arguing about the best way to take on the boss that was at the bottom of the dungeon, which is below the very ruins we are standing in.

No one notices me or the rest of my selected team for this mission as we enter the ruins, I had forced Might and Spooks to stay back at our home on Floor Four, mostly threatening to ground Spooks which Argo and Techwiz found highly amusing.

My team for this mission consisted of myself, Chaos, Techwiz and Argo. We sat down on some of the nearby steps, hidden in the shadows as usual due to a wide range of reasons, the main one been to hide from any fans, while the other been due to the fact that The Guardians are hardly seen helping with the floor clearing.

You see we prefer to keep to the shadows when clearing floors because it helps the other players keep focused on their part but it also helps us catch our opponents off guard, another reason why we are never seen clearing floors is because we are often seen helping those in need across the cleared floors of Aincrad.

As I look around the ruins, blanking out the shouting match between the two Guild Leaders, I notice the ruins are based on Medieval Europe most likely to create a link with the name of the game and its style of combat. Personally I think Kayaba based these ruins on Camelot due to the fact they look a lot like the images I saw of it in The Ghost Writer's History of the Greatest Civilizations of All Time.

My train of thought is interrupted again by Argo who I could see was starting to get annoyed with the constant arguing which by the looks of it had escalated into small fight between both Guilds, luckily the entrance to the ruins is that of a Safe Zone but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to stop the fight because in this game we all have to unite not fight or it could cost us our lives.

I get up followed by the rest of my team in attempts to stop the argument only for everyone to stop what they are doing when the sound of marching approaches from the ruins South Entrance.

 **No One's POV**

All the current players, including the Guardians turned their heads towards the Southern Entrance to see a small army covered in white and red uniforms approaching the centre of the ruins. A man heavily armoured carrying a sword and shield leading the group steps forward "I am Commander Heathcliff of the Knights of The Blood, we are a newly formed guild here to help with the floor clearing."

Heathcliff's eyes wander through the crowd of players already attending the meeting, like he was looking for a certain player or group of players "I must admit, I am little disappointed, I hoped that if we attended this meeting we might have been able to meet the Legendary Guardians but they don't seem to be here."

One of the guild leaders who was in the earlier argument marches towards Heathcliff with a face of pure hatred before pointing firmly into Heathcliff's chest "Let me tell you something COMMANDER! The Guardians are a myth and even if they did exist, they are cowards who only look out for themselves, no one else, got that so don't put your hopes up on, meeting those FRAUDS, the so called GUARDIANS!"

Heathcliff just laughs with an amused expression in the other Guild Masters face before resuming his search for the Guardians eventually finding them hiding in the back of the ruins in the shadows.

"If you think that they are a myth then who are they at the back, wearing the symbol of the Hero who leads that very guild" all the other players in the room including the Knights of Blood to look in the direction where the Guardians were hidden.

The Guardians shuffle uncomfortably at all the shocked gazes before several of the players run up to them to get a closer look at them, some even touching the weapons and armour belonging to the team, causing the team to swap uncomfortable glances.

The Guild Leader that accused The Guardians steps forward to speak his mind but before he could say anything, a familiar brunette walks towards The Guardians, causing the eyes of the team to widen in shock. Heathcliff arches his eye brow at both his guild mates and the other guilds reaction, while the rest of the players looked at the group in confusion.

Phantom walks towards Asuna with his hands placed behind his back, the aura surrounding him seemingly had changed since their last meeting into one of a calm but confident leader, causing Asuna to hesitate as she approaches the Guardians.

"Asuna, it's nice to see you again, how have you been since the last time we saw you?" Asuna looked at Phantom in shock shaking her head trying to clear her thoughts, eventually giving him her best dead pan expression "Surviving".

Phantom releases a sheepish grin and laugh, before getting a slap on the back of the head from Argo earning a scowl. Argo walks in front of Phantom to get a better look at Asuna, while Chaos starts to inspect Phantom's head, out of years of instinct from been Phantom's team mate, Asuna looks at Argo in confusion.

"I don't think we met before, who are you?" Argo clears her throat holding out her hand to Asuna which she gladly accepts by shaking it firmly, "Argo, Argo the Rat, The Guardian's Scout and Strategic Specialist as well as Info Broker, pleasure to meet you Asuna."

Asuna smirks in Argo's direction "So your one of the new members of the Guardians that I heard so much about and by the sounds of it you are one of the most important members of the guild."

Phantom steps forward with a frown on his face "Asuna in the Guardian's Guild all of the members are all equals no one is more important than another."

This causes Asuna to blush, while Argo smirks in Phantom's direction "The Guild Masters got a point you know but I wouldn't expect anything less from the world famous Ghost Boy."

Phantom rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment before realising what Argo had said earning an irritated "Hey!" from him and snickers from the rest of the Guardians and Asuna.

Phantom sends glares to the rest of the Guardians and Asuna, only for Heathcliff to interrupt the glare fest by coughing and stepping in front of Asuna with his hand stretched out.

Phantom looks nervously at Heathcliff before accepting Heathcliff's hand shaking it in return "It is honour to meet the Legendary Ghostly Protector of Earth and his Team of Guardians, as I said before I am Commander Heathcliff of the Blood Knights."

Phantom smirks in Heathcliff's direction before releasing his hand from the hand shake "Ah so you're the one who completed the guild quest and for that I am most thankful."

Heathcliff smiles at Phantom "And I am grateful for what you have done for the various players trapped within SAO but right now our primary focus should be defeating this floors boss, that's why we are all here is it not."

Various players among the area to nod their heads and cheer and all the players gather around the map in the centre of the ruins to discuss the next plan of action.

 **Danny/Phantom's POV**

As we all gathered around the map to discuss what we know so far about the dungeon and it's boss, I noticed the player who was bad mouthing my team earlier was sulking in the corner of the room, scowling in my general direction.

My attention is drawn to Chaos, who gently elbowed me in the stomach to get my attention without anyone noticing. I turn my attention back to the map, examining it for a while with the other players before Heathcliff stepped forward.

"From what one of my teams gathered the dungeon is at least three floors deep and the boss is located within the centre of the third floor. According to the guide the boss's name is The Oni Samurai and has four health bars. The boss carriers a giant Katana and once his health is taken down to two bars, he switches to duel wielding two Chokutō."

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed several of the players shivered when this was mentioned obviously they had encountered the boss previously and barley escaping with their lives.

I then turn my attention back to Heathcliff "Unfortunately our scout's barley made it out alive when they encountered the boss, so we were unable to confirm if the guide was true in anyway."

I notice Argo tense and look in my direction with the other Guardians causing me to release a sign and nod in their direction causing the players near me to look at me and the others in confusion. The confusion was removed though when Argo cleared her throat and steps forward before opening up her menu, moving through her data files that she collects as an Info broker and the teams scout.

As Argo moves through her files, the other players look at her in confusion, while me and the rest of the Guardians just smile at their confusion, until Argo lets out a "Ha!" and opens up a data file that covered the current one, showing the location of the boss.

As other players look at the data file in shock trying to make sense of it, Argo steps forward, "As the Guardian's Scout, it is my job to travel and collect data and information about each floor as well as its boss."

Argo then points to the image of the boss on her holo screen "Most of the data that is mentioned in the guide is correct, unfortunately the stats mentioned in the guide are incorrect, the boss is actually a lot more powerful. I myself can confirm this because I encountered the boss when scouting just before the meeting was announced."

When the player who was bad mouthing my team previously heard this he went ballistic "I should have known that a team of Betas, wouldn't be willing to share this information in fact I bet that's why the Guardians were hiding in shadows, they wanted us to do the dirty work for them so that they could claim the rewards and experience at the end."

I notice Argo bristle at this before walking up to the player and grabbing his arm. Argo twists the player's arm behind his back causing him to flinch, as well as the rest of people in ruins, except Chaos who had a sinister grin on her face and Argo then got into his face growling with an angry expression.

"What's your Player ID?", the player looks at Argo in confusion "P….pardon?", Argo sighs in annoyance before twisting harder causing him to scream in pain even more.

I could tell that Argo was losing her patients, I step forward in an attempt to break up the argument before it turned into a full scale duel but I am stopped by Chaos, who was using her left arm to stop me, causing me to look in her direction only to get a shake of her head, telling me not to do anything.

Argo again twists the player's arm again causing him to scream in paint "A…Al…Alright my Player ID is Diaboli, why did you want to know?" Due to the fact that Argo had her back to me I assume the panicked expression was caused by Argo giving Diaboli one of her famous death stares that could rival Chaos's.

"The reason why I wanted to know Diaboli, is that!" Argo twists his arm tighter causing Diaboli to scream in even more pain. "I wanted to know the name of the player who insulted my own data gathering skills as well as one of the world's most famous heroes, who happens to lead the one team that's primary objective is to help those trapped in the game by any means necessary, so forgive me for twisting your arm, now apologize."

I notice that Diaboli was digitally sweating in pain from Argo's (As Techwiz like to call it) Doomsday grip, as he turned his head to look at Argo then me. "A…A…Al…Alright I…I..I'M SORRY!"

Once those words were uttered by Diaboli was released from Argo's death grip with a heavy shove, causing him to fall on the ground with an "Hmph!" and a smirking Argo to walk over his back.

"AARRGGHH!"

Argo stops after hearing his scream smiling sinisterly before turning around and kneeling down to look Diaboli in the face and tapping his face gently but in a condescending manner.

"Good boy, you're learning."

Argo stands up and proceeds to walk towards the back to my team before high fiving with Chaos and I could of sword I heard Chaos compliment Argo about how she dealt with the situation.

Diaboli shuffles back into the crowd that is his guild as I approach the other guild leaders, who are staring at me and the rest of my guild, especially Heathcliff with all their guild mates.

"Look we don't have time for infighting right now, we are all here to see that we complete the game as fast as possible with the least amount of losses as possible, so the longer we stand around fighting, the more people we lose to this death game, SO ARE WE GOING TO DO THIS OR WHAT?"

I pant as I finish shouting the last part of my speech, everyone was staring at me in shock before they brock out into cheers, causing my own jaw to drop.

 **Chaos's POV**

I couldn't help but feel pride for my husband's actions, he has come so far from the nervous C student I once knew since my childhood, he is now a Hero of the Earth, a leader, a brother, a father and my husband, my lover, My Phantom.

As the other players cheer at my Phantom's speech, I feel a tear slide down my cheek but I quickly wipe it away hoping that no one will notice, only for my misfortune to appear in the form of a smirking Techwiz much to my displeasure.

I casually kick a nearby pebble with some of my strength ability put in causing the pebble fly directly into the smirking blacksmith of the Guardians forehead and him to collapse in pain on the floor holding his head. No one seemed to notice his agony and as he quivers on the floor I feel a smirk form on my lips.

As the cheers from the others settle down, Heathcliff approaches my husband pulling him away from the rest of the group to have a private word but the way he looked at Phantom gave me an uncomfortable feeling but as I shake it off as Argo gesture me to take over the presentation since Phantom is currently preoccupied.

I approach the map that the other guilds and the Guardians were currently surrounding.

"As stated before the previous interruption this boss is called The Oni Samurai but unlike what the guide state about him having four health bars, he actual has three."

The other guilds and their members seem to perk up at that, in fact a few snickered at the fact that the fact the boss sounded weaker than the previous ones and by the looks they believed he would be easy to defeat. I couldn't let them get to cocky and by the looks of it, I had to be the one to put them in their place.

As the snickers continue I could feel my anger rising and by the looks of it both Techwiz and Argo had noticed because they were backing up nervously, Techwiz more than Argo, most likely because of his past history with me.

"LISTEN UP YOU ARROGANT PRICKS, IF YOU DON'T TAKE THIS BOSS SERIOUSLY WE COULD END UP ALL DEAD BECAUSE YOU ALL COULDN'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND YOUR AROGANCE BLIND YOU TO THE ENEMIES TRUE STRENGTH."

The other players back up sweating bullets of fear except Asuna and the rest of the Guardians before one of the players is pushed forward by her friend out from the crowd.

"Er….Erm what d.. you mean exactly, Chaos?"

I sigh trying to calm myself down from my sudden burst of anger, I guess been trapped in this game is starting to affect me just like the rest of the players. I can't let that happen not when Phantom needs me, no not just me the rest of us, The Guardians, to help him complete his mission, his obsession to get all the players out of this death game.

I look at the female player analysing her before turning back to Argo's data files.

"While the boss carriers a giant Katana, once his health is taken down to one bar and he switches to duel wielding two Chokutō. This is where the boss fight gets dangerous, his strength and speed almost double so to let our confidence takeover would be to die in this game."

THUD!

I turn around to see that the female player had fainted from shock as well as several others including Diaboli. While the rest of the players stared at me in shock causing Techwiz and Argo to laugh at their gormless expressions, that is until the rest of the players started to panic.

As the panicking increases, I realise what I had done, I had to calm everyone down or the entire plan to take down the boss will fail.

"QUITE PLEASE!"

"EVERYBODY PLEASE CALM DOWN, THIS ISN'T HELPING THE SITUATION!"

No one seemed to noticed my cries, as I attempt to scream one more time another voice shouts over my own before I could even make a sound.

"QUITE!"

Everyone suddenly stops and turns around to see both Phantom and Heathcliff standing on a nearby collapse column, so that everyone could see them.

 **No One's POV**

As the players look at Phantom and Heathcliff they start to calm down and approach the two Guild Masters.

Heathcliff jumps down from the column, while Phantom lets his neon green eyes bleed through his regular sky blue eyes and scanned the crowd of players causing all the players that his gaze pass through, to shiver uncomfortably except for Chaos who blushed slightly and the rest of the Guardians nodded their heads at their Guild Master discreetly.

Heathcliff marches toward the rest of the players.

"Alright everybody needs to calm down, the last thing we need is to panic, yes the boss maybe extremely powerful and yes that this is very intimidating but this is very thing Kayaba wants us to do, he wants us to panic."

The crowd seemed to talk amongst them selves for a few minutes after Heathcliff's pause.

"He's right you know, we can't let Kayaba win"

"Yeah, but at what cost."

"True, I don't want to end up like the other unfortunate Guilds that ended up as boss chow."

As the whispering dies down, Heathcliff speaks up again.

"We have to remember that as long as we have a plan we will be able to beat the boss and lets not forget that we also have The Guardians, to help us with this boss fight, who might I add are now in an ALLIANCE WITH THE KNIGHTS OF THE BLOOD"

The crowd erupts into cheers at the newly formed alliance while Phantom and Chaos seemed to exchange a silent conversation between each other via their eyes.

 **February 11th 2023 10:30 AM AST Aincrad Floor Twenty-Six Abandoned Ruins, Twenty-Six Floor Boss Meet**

"So then, that is the plan, Group A will attack The Oni Samurai first weakening it down before switching with Group B so that they can recover. We will repeat this process several times until we get the Samurai down to his first health bar. Which will cause him to swap weapons and his states to double, this is where Group C and D will attack together quickly both covering each other to prevent any player deaths in the final assault."

"YEAH!"

As the players start to march down into the dungeon, Phantom pushes the Guardians to the back of the line of groups marching into the dungeon. The rest of the Guardians look at Phantom in concern, with Chaos leading the assault.

"Phantom, are you alright?"

Phantom smiles at Chaos gratefully.

"I'm fine for now, as for my main concern, Heathcliff, I don't know why but my Ghost Sense is plaining up whenever I am around him, making me believe he is hiding something that could affect all the players in this game."

Argo frowned at Phantom's answer "So that's why you agreed to be in an alliance with his guild, hey Boss, but why would your Ghost Sense plain up? Does that mean that Heathcliff is a ghost of some sort?"

Phantom goes to reply but Techwiz buts in "Not exactly, you see while Phantom's Ghost Sense detects ghosts, it can also be used as a true nature or lie detector of sorts as long as Phantom is close enough, so Heathcliff must be hiding something from us but the biggest question is does the rest of his guild know?"

Phantom shakes his head slowly.

"I don't known Tech, all we can do is keep our eyes on Heathcliff and his guild and hope for the best."

As Phantom finishes his sentence the Guardians enter the dungeon, causing Darkness to fall on the team of heroes once more.

 **NEXT TIME ON SWORD ART ONLINE**

 **Phantom Skills and Blossoms**

 **Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been able to update any of my stories recently, a lot and I mean a lot of things came up, so I never got a chance to update, although I did get a lot of ideas for various fanfictions and have written them down, so I suppose that is something to look forward to. I have also set up a pole to see how you my readers should think the second half of Sword Art Online should go, the pole question is In SAO The Guardian Guild Chronicles during the Alfheim Story Arc, who in the Guardians should be trapped by Sugou in ALO?**


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